FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the commission can do more with less—102 fewer full-time employees, for example— while working toward its core mission to protect the public interest and close the digital divide.

Pai, joined by commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael O'Rielly, testified Tuesday on the FCC's budget before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.

The FCC has asked for about $322 million, 5.2% less than the previous year, even though the FCC's budget has been flat since 2009.

Related: FCC's O'Rielly: More WiFi Work to Be Done

Pai conceded it was a challenge to do more with less, but that the FCC had rolled up its sleeves. And while he said past chairmen had pointed out that the FCC is fully funded by fees charged to licensees, he also remembered—and more than one legislator reminded him—that someone was paying that fee, including businesses big and small and the consumers to whom those fees were passed along.

Pai said that even with fewer people, the FCC had more than doubled the number of items it was dealing with at its public meetings—saying the average was now 5.83 items vs. 2.58 under his predecessor. He cited a number of cost savings as well, from closing an off-site warehouse to cutting down on the number of printers and copy machines.

The chairman also said he thought refraining from regulatory overreach would also cut costs.

Related: Pai: 'Net Neutrality' Is About Government Dictates

Many of the legislators sought, and received, assurances from the chairman that the FCC would continue to prioritize broadband deployment with that tighter budget.

Pai also said that while reaching underserved communities continued to be important, the FCC would prioritize getting broadband to some of the 30 million unserved who have no access to high-speed broadband.

The focus on deployment was no surprise given the number of subcommittee members from rural states. Subcommittee Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito is from West Virginia, which has the lowest broadband deployment of any state. She said without connectivity communities would continue to struggle. She cited a lack of competition as one problem.

She said broadband should be easily available and affordable, adding: "It's that simple."

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said that having to do more with less will eventually come to a point of diminishing returns, a point she said is fast approaching.

As telegraphed, President Donald Trump's new budget takes an axe to so called "soft power" programs and agencies to make room for boosting the budgets of "hard power" departments like Defense and Homeland Security, including billions for The Wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

That includes zeroing out money for noncommercial radio and TV, and the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities.

The President, in a letter to Congress, called his budget cuts "sensible and rational" and an attempt to eliminate waste and increase efficiency. OMB director Mick Mulvaney added that it was also aimed at the "crisis" of a $20 trillion national debt.

"The decision to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities is a new low point for the current Administration," said Ovation VP, network strategy, Liz Janneman. "By ignoring the voices of millions of Americans, and focusing on the ill-informed advice of organizations like The Heritage Foundation, President Trump has taken an ax to one of the best investments the federal government makes year in and year out. 

"Rather than the short-sighted point of view that the arts are a frivolity or a luxury not worthy of federal funding, this Administration fails to recognize the well-documented fact that arts and culture industries generate $22.3 billion in revenue to local, state and federal governments every year, and create 4.13 million full-time jobs, generating $86.68 billion in household income," Janneman continued. "The arts are also one of America’s biggest exports.  So, if the contention is that eliminating the NEA and NEH budgets are somehow going to save the federal government money, then someone needs to check the batteries in their calculator. According to 21st century economists, the arts are a valuable commodity for U.S. consumers, as well as a strong contributor to America’s economic vitality. “

Trump's budget is only a proposal that Congress needs to approve, so there is still hope for those programs.

In that spirit, Ovation, which has long fought to preserve NEA and NEH, has recruited some high-profile, non-profit arts organizations and artists -- including the Fords Theatre Society and the American Ballet Theater -- for a  2017 Stand for Arts campaign to try to save the programs.

NEA is the independent government agency established in 1965 to partner with federal, state, and local agencies and funding sources to support arts learning and equal access to the art, according to NEA, which has awarded more than $5 billion over that time.

In 2015, for example – the year of its most recent annual report — it partnered with Playbill and Disney to create a Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge for high school students, sponsored poetry reading competitions, and funded fellowships in writing and translation. Its total budget was a little less than $150 million, about one-sixteenth of one stealth bomber.

NEA sponsored 30,000 concerts, readings, and performances; more than 5,000 exhibitions (attended by 33 million); and supported performances on broadcasting and cable to at least 360 million more.

NEA has helped create art therapy for injured servicemen and even partnered with the White House for its 2014 holiday tour.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) decried the massive budget cuts in various programs, including for the arts, saying creative industries "support a vibrant and secure economy."

The Obama Administration's new 2017 budget, unviled Tuesday (Feb. 9), includes investment in a new Cybersecurity National Action Plan and the creation of a commission to recommend ways of "enhancing cybersecurity awareness and protections inside and outside of Government, protecting privacy and empowering Americans to take better control of their digital security."

The budget allocates $19 billion for in federal resources for cybersecurity, an increase of more than a third (35%) over 2016, and it creates for the first time a chief information security officer.

"With this Budget, a pivotal moment is reached in the approach to the cybersecurity challenges facing the Nation," the administration said.

The budget also creates a Federal Privacy Council as "the principal interagency forum to improve the Government privacy practices of agencies and entities acting on their behalf."

It will comprise senior privacy officials from government agencies--though initially not including independent agencies like the FCC and FTC. But the White House did say that the committee may invite participation from officials at independent agencies.

The president said in a message accompanying the budget that the action plan includes "retiring outdated federal information technology (IT) systems that were designed in a different age and increasingly are vulnerable to attack, reforming the way that the federal government manages and responds to cyber threats, and recruiting the best cyber talent."

He said those moves will strengthen cybersecurity in the private as well as public sectors, and that both companies and consumers need those tools to protect themselves.

The budget also spends $62 million on cybersecurity education programs.

"We applaud the White House's new national action plan to strengthen our country's defenses against cybersecurity attacks that threaten our online privacy and our economy," said AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson in a statement. "The security of our digital economy and individual privacy requires end-to-end protection at every level and device connected to the Internet. We look forward to working with the Administration, Congress and others in the private sector to implement the most advanced cybersecurity protections and practices, and raise awareness of how individuals can best protect themselves online."

WASHINGTON — According to the House Energy & Commerce Committee, it has struck an "agreement" with Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler that will keep 15 of the agency's 24 field offices open.

The chairman's budget plan had included closing 16 of the 24 offices, saying that was a way to save money without adversely impacting interference monitoring, but various House members, including ones in districts where offices were closing, were not convinced, and broadcasters were concerned given the interference monitoring the FCC will have to do when it repacks stations and wireless operators after the incentive auction.

“Communities across America will continue to be served even as the commission becomes more efficient – it’s a win-win,” said full committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) in announcing the agreement. “It also demonstrates how much we can accomplish when we work together to tackle the many tough issues we face.”

"These changes will keep field offices open in strategic locations and help ensure that the commission can fulfill its responsibilities to the public and public safety communities," added Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.).

In addition to keeping 15 field offices open, the revised FCC budget plan will "ensure better rapid response capabilities for the west, provide a mechanism for escalating interference complaints, improve enforcement of the FCC’s rules against pirate radio operators, and prevent the commission from transferring field office jobs to the FCC’s Washington, D.C. headquarters."

Walden and Upton registered their concerns about the plan in a letter to Wheeler in April.

Wheeler spent some time defending the closures to broadcasters in his speech to the NAB convention back in April. Wheeler has said the FCC found it had more trucks than employees and one manager for every four in the offices, so there was room for finding new efficiencies by taking a "strike force" approach. He said centralizing the process would save costs and that there were currently too many people doing too few things.

The announcement of the agreement by the House Republicans, including the ramped-up efforts targeting pirate radio stations, comes the same day that 33 members of the New York and New Jersey congressional delegations wrote the FCC asking it to crack down on pirate radio stations in the region, including by staffing up its New York regional office and boosting enforcement.

The deal was a victory for the National Association of Broadcasters, which had challenged the closures.

"NAB thanks the many members of Congress who expressed concern over proposed cuts in FCC field offices," said NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton, "and we applaud Chairman Wheeler and his staff for resolving this issue in a manner that better protects against airwave interference. We also salute Chairman Wheeler's willingness to address the rampant growth of pirate radio, which creates significant interference challenges for radio listeners who rely daily on their legally-licensed hometown stations."

In fact, Wheeler gave NAB a shout-out for its help in informing the shift.

“Today, I circulated to my fellow Commissioners a modified plan to modernize our field offices," said Wheeler in a statement. "These changes create the opportunity for the FCC to be more efficient with its resources while actually improving 21st Century field activities. This updated plan represents the best of both worlds: rigorous management analysis combined with extensive stakeholder and Congressional input. Chairman Walden, Chairman Upton and other lawmakers have contributed to this effort through their thoughtful engagement," he confirmed. "Input from industry and public safety stakeholders has further informed the modifications, and I appreciate the important role played by the National Association of Broadcasters in getting to a constructive result. I urge my colleagues to approve this revised plan with dispatch so that we may get on with improving the agency’s productivity.”