Senate budget negotiators are not putting a policy rider on a stop-gap spending bill that would have blocked the Obama Administration hand-off of the IANA domain naming oversight authority to a multistakeholder group.
Congress is trying to avoid a government shut-down at the end of the month and wrap up the funding bill so legislators can return to their home states to try and get re-elected.
That is according to Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), ranking member of the Senate Communications Subcommittee.
A summary of the just-released bill did not have any mention of the issue.
Schatz supports the hand-off, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who was pushing for the rider, says it is a giveaway to China and Russia.
“The Senate continues to reject any efforts to block the IANA transition," Schatz said in a statement. "These efforts represent a fringe view that defies all logic. Technology and foreign policy experts from across the political spectrum agree that any delay of this transition would only empower our enemies and break our long-standing commitment to the global community to keep the internet open and free.”
