June 9, 2016, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising House Commerce, Science and Justice Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) for a letter he wrote today to the Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker stating “Section 539 of the Fiscal Year 2016 Omnibus prohibits funds provided in the Act from being used to relinquish the NTIA’s responsibility for the authoritative root zone file and the IANA functions, and I will ensure this section is fully enforced. As we have previously discussed, I continue to oppose the use of any funds to plan for, prepare for, work on [the] transition [of] the Internet Domain Name System functions”:
“Chairman Culberson’s leadership in protecting the Internet has been instrumental in the stopping the transition to date, and his letter to Secretary Pritzker sends a clear message that he’s not backing down now. Culberson is defending the constitutional power of the purse from the Obama administration’s illegal Internet giveaway. Culberson is standing against a rogue agency that thinks it can do whatever it wants.
“Not only can the Commerce Department not transition the Internet domain name system functions to ICANN, it cannot even plan to or prepare for the transition. That is because it is not only illegal to violate a federal statute, it is also illegal to plan to or prepare to violate a federal statute.
“We applaud Culberson for standing up for the free and open Internet, for protecting the constitutional power of the purse and the rule of law.”
Attachments:
U.S. Rep. John Culberson Acts to Protect Internet Freedom, press release, June 9, 2016 at http://culberson.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398501
Letter to Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker from U.S. Rep. John Culberson, June 9, 2016 at http://culberson.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2016.06.09_doc_letter_on_iana.pdf
Section 539(a), Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 at https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2029/text: “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to relinquish the responsibility of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration … with respect to Internet domain name system functions, including responsibility with respect to the authoritative root zone file and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority functions.”
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Rick Manning.
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