A coalition of minority advocacy groups, including the NAACP and Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, wrote to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and lawmakers on Tuesday complaining about a lack of progress on civil rights issues.

The letter highlights two "unpleasant surprises" in the FCC's budget proposal: reduced funding for the Adarand studies that are used to justify affirmative action programs and cuts to the budgets of the Offices of Workplace Diversity and Communications Business Opportunities.

"The only two FCC offices with substantive responsibilities whose funding was cut in the 2011 Budget were the two offices focusing on minority issues," the letter states, adding that the Workplace Diversity Office should be focused on why there are "almost no minority" senior officials in many of the Commission's Bureaus, including the Media Bureau.

The topic of diversity at the FCC has been a political hot-button lately after House Republicans passed an amendment to their spending bill to defund the salary of FCC Chief Diversity Officer Mark Lloyd. The FCC responded by defending Lloyd and his work spreading broadband Internet access to low-income groups.

Update: An FCC spokesman sent a response to the letter, full statement after the jump

FCC Spokesman Robert Kenny said, "We are committed to upholding and fostering the civil rights of every American and remain focused on truly making a difference in people's lives -- to spur opportunities for people through policy initiatives that harness technology and adapt to a changing communications landscape in America. This FCC has made great strides in this area, from its work with Comcast and NBCU and fixing key provisions in the Sirius-XM merger to working with Congress to resolve a significant dispute over Arbitron's Portable People Meter service. The Commission's March meeting will build on these efforts as address real life issues and concerns facing Native Americans and finding new ways to bring 21st Century technologies to their communities. We will continue to push forward with strong, sensible ideas that will actually make a difference."

The groups argue the FCC has failed to respond to concerns they raised a year ago, including the 50 percent decrease in minority television-entity ownership since 1999 and the near-complete absence of minorities among the ranks of radio employees.

"We did not think it possible that a year later, the status of civil rights at the FCC would get even worse, but it has," the letter states.

The groups argue that despite the fact minority radio, TV and cable channel ownership is "spiraling towards zero" the FCC has still yet to approve any minority ownership proposals and has only reviewed one of 72 before the agency.

They also complain about the paucity of stimulus broadband grants for minority business owners and request a meeting with the FCC and lawmakers including Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Reps. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and Ed Towns (D-N.Y.).