The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is sending $881 million in unused funds back to the U.S. Treasury after Chairman Brendan Carr said the agency went looking for taxpayer money that had been left sitting in its accounts.
The money remained in the FCC’s TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund, better known as the “Repack,” following the completion of the 2017 broadcast spectrum incentive auction. The FCC announced Wednesday that the unused funds would be returned to Treasury as part of an effort to reduce government spending and the national deficit.
Carr tied the move directly to the Trump administration’s push to root out government waste.
In the FCC’s announcement, Carr said the agency had taken a closer look at money sitting on its books rather than simply allowing it to remain there indefinitely.
“In support of the Trump Administration’s efforts to seek out government waste, we took a hard look at money sitting in our agency with an eye to limiting government spending and reducing wasteful programs. As we come to the end of the Fiscal Year, we found the time was ripe to ‘clean house’ and ensure money does not sit languishing at the agency level when it can be given back to the U.S. Treasury for the financial benefits of the Nation.”
The $881 million is leftover money from a much larger pot Congress created to compensate broadcasters and other entities affected by the spectrum reshuffling.
Congress allocated $2.75 billion under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 and the Reimbursement Expansion Act of 2018 to cover costs incurred when broadcasters were involuntarily moved to new channels. The fund ultimately supported thousands of broadcasters with licensing, construction, and equipment-removal expenses during the transition.
The underlying spectrum auction began in April 2017 and repurposed 84 megahertz of low-band broadcast spectrum for commercial and unlicensed wireless use. It generated $19.3 billion in net winning bids. The auction involved two connected parts: broadcasters participated in a reverse auction to determine what they would accept to relinquish spectrum rights, while wireless companies participated in a forward auction to establish what they would pay for licenses to use that spectrum.
With the relocation work now completed, the FCC said there was no reason for the remaining money to continue sitting at the agency.
It is not a new spending cut or the cancellation of an active program. The $881 million had already been appropriated for the broadcaster relocation effort and simply was not needed.
But instead of finding another use for nearly $1 billion already parked inside the federal government, Carr is sending it back. That’s not nothing. Most agencies don’t go looking for money to return.
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