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  "description": "The shutdown slowed down broadband rollout, telecom licensing, merger activity.",
  "path": "/record-shutdown-leaves-communications-agencies-strained-despite-senate-action/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-11-10T22:25:02.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "_furloughed_",
    "_slowed_",
    "_suspended many of its operations_",
    "_slowing down_",
    "_processing_",
    "_continued operating_",
    "_capacity cut_"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2025 — The Senate advanced a stopgap funding bill late Sunday that could end the nation’s longest government shutdown, as almost all aspects of federal government faced some measure of disruption after 40 days without funding.\n\nThe shutdown, which began Oct. 1 after Congress failed to pass fiscal 2026 appropriations, stalled many aspects of operations at the Federal Communications Commission, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, and other agencies and departments.\n\nThe FCC _furloughed_ more than 80 percent of its staff, leaving 171 of 1,476 employees to handle interference detection and emergency communications support.\n\nReviews of major mergers, including Charter Communications’ $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox Communications, remain frozen. FCC Chairman **Brendan Carr** said in late October that the shutdown had _slowed_ license processing for network deployments and delayed approvals for consumer electronics entering the market. The commission held their open meeting on Oct. 28 despite the shutdown.\n\nThe FTC, one of two major antitrust agencies and which enforces consumer protection laws (including involving the tech sector), said it had _suspended many of its operations_, including pausing its consumer services and _slowing down_ its antitrust investigations. Staff are also not _processing_ Freedom of Information Act requests, and the agency has canceled all public events until further notice.\n\nAbout two-thirds of the agency’s workforce has been furloughed, leaving roughly 400 employees in place.\n\nThe slowdown has delayed antitrust cases involving Amazon and Meta, as attorneys seek extensions and hearings are postponed.\n\n###  _NTIA continued operating_\n\nBut the NTIA, Commerce Department’s executive agency telecom advisor, said it had continued _continued operating_ its broadband programs, including the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, since the initiative is funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and not subject to annual appropriations.\n\nAs of Nov. 3, 53 of 56 states and territories had submitted their final BEAD proposals to the agency.\n\n### _NIST, EPA largely in hiatus_\n\nThe broader Commerce Department remains largely shut down, with about 43,000 employees on furlough. Most research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has also stopped, pausing work on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence standards, the agency said.\n\nFederal permitting essential to broadband deployment also remains fragmented.\n\nThe Environmental Protection Agency, operating with just 11 percent of staff, has halted most permit reviews. Expedited FAST-41 evaluations, which fast-track federal environmental reviews for major infrastructure projects, continue for projects above $100 million, but many BEAD-funded builds fall below that threshold.\n\n### _FAA role in ending shutdown?_\n\nAviation impacts deepened over the weekend after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a 4 percent _capacity cut_ at 40 major airports Friday, citing air traffic controller shortages.\n\nMore than 1,500 flights were canceled over the weekend, with delays averaging four hours at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and three hours at Houston Hobby Airport. Transportation Secretary **Sean Duffy** warned cuts could reach 20 percent if negotiations collapse.\n\n### _Back to work?_\n\nThe Senate on Sunday advanced a Republican stopgap funding measure, though the timing for final passage remains uncertain. Eight Democrats, including Sens. **Jacky Rosen** , D-Nev., and **Dick Durbin** , D-Ill., joined Republicans in supporting the procedural motion.\n\nSenate leaders plan to attach the funding package to a House-passed bill for final approval, after which the House is expected to return from its seven-week recess to send the measure to President **Donald Trump**.\n\nThe 40-day shutdown has outlasted every previous lapse in federal funding.",
  "title": "Record Shutdown Leaves Communications Agencies Strained Despite Senate Action",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T05:43:25.946Z"
}