Sept. 16, 2016, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting a statement by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) threatening a government shutdown if Congress does not allow the Internet giveaway to go forward, where he said, “Can… Republicans dream up an any more obscure and irrelevant issue to stop the business of the American government? … I couldn’t believe it when they told me this could stop the CR”:
“If the Internet giveaway is such an ‘obscure and irrelevant’ issue then why do Durbin and Senate Democrats care about it? Are they saying they will or will not vote for the continuing resolution over stopping the Internet giveaway? They have already voted for funding bills last year and the year before when the Internet giveaway was defunded. Now suddenly we are supposed to believe that Dick Durbin and others of his ilk want to shut down the government over it and yet is ‘obscure and irrelevant.’ Maybe Team Durbin just cares more about their corporate overlords Google, Amazon and Facebook who are pushing for the end of U.S. oversight of the Internet’s domain name system.
“The simple fact that the government has not engaged in any due diligence to make certain that the transfer of Internet governance to its vendor would not unalterably disrupt the basic processes of the Internet due to antitrust litigation should make it clear to members on both sides of the aisle that extending the current contract at least another two years is the only prudent course. I am confident that Senator Durbin and his colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle don’t want to be forever known as the jokers who broke the Internet due to their petulance and political gamesmanship.”
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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