GOP Senators Urge Democrats to Support IANA Transition Delay Language in CR
Twelve Republican senators spoke out again Friday in opposition to NTIA's plans to proceed with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority switch Oct. 1. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and nine other GOP senators jointly issued a statement urging Senate Democrats to join them in opposing the transition. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a Fox News opinion piece he wants to delay the move but supports the IANA transition eventually occurring once there's further assurance that ICANN is ready. The 12 senators were on record as supporting either a delay or full cancellation of the IANA transition. Cruz, Grassley and other GOP senators criticized aspects of the transition during a sometimes contentious Wednesday Senate Judiciary Oversight Subcommittee hearing (see 1609140062).
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There are perceptions that the transition debate has become starkly partisan ahead of planned votes next week on a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government after FY 2016 ends Sept. 30 that's likely to contain language to force a delay, stakeholders told us. The possible CR language would extend a rider in the Department of Commerce's FY 2016 budget that bars NTIA from using its funding to execute the transition. A first procedural vote on the CR is set for Monday afternoon (see 1609150065). Senate leadership was still negotiating the CR language at our deadline Friday, an industry lobbyist told us.
“For years, there has been a bipartisan understanding that the ICANN transition is premature and that critical questions remain unanswered about the influence of authoritarian regimes in Internet governance, the protection of free speech, the effect on national security, and impacts on consumers, just to name a few,” said Grassley, Cruz and the others. “Without adequate answers to these questions, it would be irresponsible to allow the transition to occur in 15 days simply because of an artificial deadline set by the Obama administration.” The other GOP senators who signed the statement were: Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Mike Lee of Utah, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Roger Wicker of Mississippi. Burr, Lankford, Lee and Sessions are co-sponsors of Cruz's anti-transition Protecting Internet Freedom Act (S-3034).
“We urge our Democratic colleagues to work with us” in opposition to the transition, the GOP senators said. They cited 2014 comments by former President Bill Clinton that were critical of the transition (see report in the April 11, 2014, issue) as evidence of Democratic opposition to spinning off NTIA's oversight of the IANA functions that “have echoed” Republican lawmakers' concerns. “Partisanship and political gamesmanship have no place when it comes to the Internet, basic principles of freedom, and the right of individuals in our great nation and across the globe to speak online free from censorship,” the GOP senators said.
There are no definitive signs yet that support for and opposition to including the transition funding ban language in the CR would be fully divided along partisan lines, several stakeholders said. But it's telling that no senators have made statements that would indicate that's not going to be the case, an industry lobbyist said. The support that Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., Grassley and other Senate GOP leaders have given to the push for a transition delay is important, but “I'm not convinced that they even have all Senate Republicans convinced that it's a good idea” to include the funding ban in the CR, said R Street Institute Technology Policy Program Director Zach Graves.
There's a good chance the funding ban language will make it into the final CR, “but there are some senators who may use this as a chip in the broader discussion about the appropriations fight,” Graves said. Senate Democrats appear unified against including the funding ban rider in the CR, but there are signs they may not push hard against the provision, Graves and others said. President Barack Obama isn't likely to threaten a veto of the CR if the rider is included in the CR, Graves said. “It's too small potatoes to shut down the government over.” The defense of the transition that Senate Judiciary Oversight ranking member Chris Coons, D-Del., made during the hearing “gave me encouragement that the Senate may not be as quick to pass a CR that would prevent this transition from going forward than people are assuming,” said Wiley Rein telecom and internet governance lawyer David Gross.
It's telling that Coons and Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., were the only Senate Democrats to stay at the hearing long enough to engage witnesses, said Phil Corwin, principal of e-commerce and IP law consultancy Virtualaw. Coons and Klobuchar strongly backed the transition and countered claims by Cruz and other GOP senators, but “there wasn't any big show from Democrats that this is an issue that they're going to fall on their swords to stop,” Corwin said.