FCC Furloughs 81% of Staff After Shutdown Begins
The FCC suspended most of its operations early Wednesday when federal appropriations lapsed, as expected (see 2509300060). The agency furloughed 81% of its 1,288 staff members, less than the 88% it planned for ahead of a March shutdown that was averted when Congress agreed on its now-lapsed funding extension (see 2503140069). More than 77% of NTIA’s 600 employees remain at work, in part because of spectrum funding included in the Republicans’ reconciliation package, previously known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (see 2507030056). The shutdown is also already affecting at least one telecom-related case in federal court, although the overall judicial system remains open for now.
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The Senate appeared no closer Wednesday to reaching a deal to end the shutdown after additional unsuccessful attempts to clear the 60-vote cloture threshold for either of two continuing resolutions that would temporarily restore funding. The Senate voted 55-45 Wednesday on Republicans’ House-passed proposal (HR-5371) to reopen the government until Nov. 21, with only three Democrats in support. It voted 47-53 on Democrats’ counteroffer (S-2882), which extends funding through Oct. 31 and also proposes restoring CPB's $535 million in rescinded FY 2026 funding (see 2509180033). CPB closed Wednesday after its FY 2025 allocation lapsed, but its website remained active as of that afternoon.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., continued to blame the opposite party for precipitating the shutdown. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of senators is eyeing a 45-day CR as a potential compromise, aides said. Thune told reporters that the Senate will continue to hold votes on HR-5371 for as long as it takes to reach the 60-vote threshold, even if it means keeping lawmakers in Washington into the weekend. However, the Senate will recess Thursday to observe the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, he said. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters he won’t reconvene the lower chamber until Tuesday, as scheduled. That means HR-5371 is the only potential CR proposal that could pass with House backing before then.
White House OMB Director Russell Vought appeared ready to make good on his office’s threat to lay off federal workers not funded by the reconciliation package or other non-appropriations measures. He said on a Wednesday call with House Republicans that such firings could happen in two days’ time, congressional aides said. OMB told all federal agencies last week to examine which employees they could ax under a shutdown scenario, with an eye to reinstating a minimal number of furloughed staff once the government reopens.
Judicial Impact
The FCC’s updated furlough plan, which circulated Wednesday, called for 244 employees to remain at work during the shutdown, including 39 in the Office of Inspector General. Up to 117 of the retained employees’ salaries “are not funded out of annual appropriations that will lapse, and they will be supporting spectrum auction-related activities,” the plan said. Up to 40 employees will stay on “for critical oversight/protection of life or property, including the security of FCC’s facilities, critical information technology infrastructure, and to support and provide oversight for other excepted activities.” Smaller numbers of employees remain working on interference detection, USF disbursements and preparations for the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference (see 2510010057), the FCC said.
The agency said 77 contractors will also continue working, including 18 who provide IT support for commission systems and another 18 who provide cybersecurity services. Sixteen contractors will remain working on spectrum-auction-related activities, and 12 contracted guards will continue to provide security for the FCC’s Washington headquarters.
The federal court system said Wednesday that it will remain open through Oct. 17, but DOJ and the FCC asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for a stay in filing a response on a T-Mobile petition asking the court to rehear en banc its challenge of an FCC data fine (see 2509220056).
“Absent a further Congressional appropriation, the [U.S.] is required to impose significant restrictions on the ability of many of its employees to carry out their ordinary duties,” DOJ and the FCC said in a filing in docket 24-1224. “Specifically, certain DOJ attorneys, agency attorneys, and other employees of the federal government are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited circumstances.” The shutdown “thus requires a substantial reduction in the workforces of the FCC and DOJ, particularly with respect to the defense of civil cases,” the agencies said. “This reduction has effectively eliminated the ability of counsel who have worked on and are familiar with this case to handle the litigation while the lapse in appropriations continues.”
Federal courts overall will be temporarily open by using court fee balances and other money that's not dependent on new appropriations. After Oct. 17, the courts will operate under the terms of federal law letting work necessary to support judicial activity continue during an appropriations lapse. The courts said most proceedings and deadlines will occur as scheduled through Oct. 17, but hearing and filing dates may change for cases in which an attorney from an executive agency isn’t working due to the shutdown.