House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., urged Democrats...

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., urged Democrats to oppose the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, HR-5016, according to a message his office circulated Monday. The full House took up that bill Monday and was expected to continue consideration of it Tuesday. Hoyer specifically named the FCC among the agencies the bill would fund and lamented the overall decrease in funding and “controversial policy riders” in the overall bill. The bill would give the FCC $323 million, which is $53 million less than requested, and the FTC $293 million, fitting with that agency’s request. The White House lashed out and outlined strong opposition to the appropriations bill, the Office of Management and Budget said in a message Monday. “The Administration strongly objects to the reduction in funding in the bill for the FCC,” which “would undermine efforts at the FCC to modernize information technology systems, better map and analyze spectrum usage to free up more bandwidth for commercial use, and continue needed reforms to the Universal Service Fund,” OMB said.