Hill Appropriators Agree to Trump's Request for FY26 FCC Funding Increase, FTC Cuts
Leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations committees released a compromise FY 2026 minibus spending package (HR-7006) on Sunday night that would mirror President Donald Trump’s request to increase the FCC’s annual funding but decrease the FTC’s allocation (see 2506020056). Meanwhile, the Senate planned to vote Monday night on the motion to invoke cloture on the House-passed minibus FY26 package (HR-6938), which would increase NTIA’s annual funding to $50 million (see 2601080070).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
HR-7006 would give the FCC $416.1 million, including $13.5 million for its Office of Inspector General. That’s more than a 6% increase from what the commission received in FY 2024 (see 2403250015). Congress extended all federal agencies’ FY24 funding levels into FY25 via a continuing resolution in March (see 2503170058). HR-7006 would give the FTC $383.6 million for FY26, almost 10% less than it received in FY24 and FY25.
A report accompanying HR-7006 would direct the FCC to “review the challenge processes it has implemented” for its broadband coverage data maps “to ensure that these are properly calibrated to identify errors within the location Fabric and identify errors or overstatements of coverage made by” ISPs. It would require the FCC to brief House and Senate Appropriations within 90 days on that review and the agency’s work to coordinate with other federal entities on the mapping data. “In the briefing, the FCC shall identify the extent to which each Federal agency is currently submitting the data necessary to populate the map in a timely manner and any challenges with incomplete data availability or accessibility.”
The HR-7006 report also “directs the FCC not to modify, amend, or change” USF high-cost program rules for eligible telecom carriers “until it has consulted with” NTIA on BEAD funding awards. House and Senate Appropriations sought a range of other FCC briefings, such as on “the status of current Chinese technology and equipment eligible for” funding from the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, “including information on the number of at-risk networks, the number of grant requests outstanding, and key security vulnerabilities the FCC has identified through” the initiative.