After the Republicans in office rejected President Barack Obama's healthcare plan, Obamacare; the government has experience its first government shutdown in 17 years at the start of October (1). What does this mean for the Communications Act of 1934, plenty. The shutdown has deactivated all government services that are considered nonessential. What they feel is essential is police, fire fighting, armed forces, utilities and correctional officers (2). What this spells for the Communications Act of 1934 is the shutdown of the organization it created, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
FCC Shutdown:
The Federal Government-wide shutdown has marginalized the FCC's duties. The FCC is only to perform duties that are necessary for the safety of life or the protection of property. With the Federal Government shut down up in the air, the FCC's return to its regular function is indefinite. Telecommunications companies now have to turn to the Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) (3).
Services that the FCC usually provide but are now shutdown include the following: consumer protection, local competition, licensing services, and new electronic devices being produced to the general public (4).
FCC Workplace While Shutdown:
What this means for employees of the FCC. Workers have to get in shutdown mode, secure working area and cancel all plans such as flights or FCC sponsored events. 1,716 employees (98%) will be sent home and not working during the shutdown after they have already performed their final task. Only 38 workers (2%) of the people working at the FCC will still be operating under the FCC performing duties that are considered essential to the government (4).
Why the FCC is important:
Even though the Communications Act of 1934 has created a strong organization that has been shaped over the years to handle today's communication, the FCC finds itself shutdown and only providing duties related to security. The FCC provides many functions that's important for the nation in terms of consumerism, the nations economy, and technology advancements. It's one of those things that plays a a detrimental role to our nation, and one would hope that the Federal Government-wide shut down ends sooner than later so the FCC could get back to performing its original functions.
Services that the FCC usually provide but are now shutdown include the following: consumer protection, local competition, licensing services, and new electronic devices being produced to the general public (4).
FCC Workplace While Shutdown:
What this means for employees of the FCC. Workers have to get in shutdown mode, secure working area and cancel all plans such as flights or FCC sponsored events. 1,716 employees (98%) will be sent home and not working during the shutdown after they have already performed their final task. Only 38 workers (2%) of the people working at the FCC will still be operating under the FCC performing duties that are considered essential to the government (4).
Why the FCC is important:
Even though the Communications Act of 1934 has created a strong organization that has been shaped over the years to handle today's communication, the FCC finds itself shutdown and only providing duties related to security. The FCC provides many functions that's important for the nation in terms of consumerism, the nations economy, and technology advancements. It's one of those things that plays a a detrimental role to our nation, and one would hope that the Federal Government-wide shut down ends sooner than later so the FCC could get back to performing its original functions.
Sources:
1. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/01/us-usa-fiscal-idUSBRE98N11220131001
2. http://www.google.com/#q=what+is+the+government+shutdown
3. http://www.fcc.gov/shutdown-page.html
4. http://www.fcc.gov/Plan-for-Orderly-Shutdown-September-2013.pdf
3. http://www.fcc.gov/shutdown-page.html
4. http://www.fcc.gov/Plan-for-Orderly-Shutdown-September-2013.pdf
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