FCC proposal cuts 100 jobs, $17.8 million from its budget

The United States Federal Communications Commission has proposed cutting around $17.8 million from its annual budget.

The budget, which was submitted to Congress, is for $398.3 million in funding for the 2027 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, 2026. It will also cut around 100 full-time staff roles, which would place its headcount at around 1,294 employees.

The FCC proposed cutting jobs at the Media Bureau, which is responsible for over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, including licensing. This division will love nine positions, leaving 103 behind, to save around $1.4 million per year.

Also of note are 13 staff roles being eliminated from the Enforcement Bureau, which, as its name suggests, enforces various FCC regulations and issues fines against alleged violators. 

The FCC will also trim a smaller number of roles across various parts of its operations and rely less on outside contractors so complete the savings.

According to the FCC, the cuts are designed to help offset cost-of-living wages to existing employees, which is expected to cost $2.6 million. 

While some areas did see cuts, the FCC has also allocated $15 million to go toward funding artificial intelligence initiatives that it says will help increase its operational efficiency. 

A schedule for regulatory fees, which are paid by radio and TV broadcasters, has not been finalized. Last fiscal year, radio station owners benefited from small reductions in these fees. 

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At $17.8 million, the proposed cuts are comparatively small. They represent just over a 4.5% reduction over the previous year.

The 100 people losing their jobs is also a fraction of the estimated 300,000 federal employees who opted to leave their jobs — either voluntarily or via layoffs — since early 2025. Some of those jobs have since been reinstated or may be pending reinstatement either by the government or judges’ rulings. 

It also represents about 4.45% of the low end of a proposed estimated increase to the Department of Defense funding, which has created a record-breaking budget of around $1.5 trillion for the coming fiscal year (the FCC’s total budget is less than 0.03% of total proposed defense spending). Various sources project that the military will receive between $400 billion and $500 billion more under the pending budget.

The FCC submits proposed budgets to Congress ahead of each fiscal year. The final numbers can change.