[council] FW: House Appropriations Bill Extends IANA Freeze into FY 17

[Phil Corwin]

This afternoon I received a call from a journalist who informed me that the Commerce Department Appropriations bill being considered in the House extends the freeze on transfer of the IANA functions into FY 17, which starts on October 1, 2016. (I took the call while driving and am not sure if this is just the Committee mark, or whether the bill has been reported out.)

Asked for a reaction, I told him that I was somewhat surprised given the rather friendly reception that the House Commerce Committee accorded the transition and accountability measures at its hearing last month. On the other hand, the appropriators have their own views and priorities and don't defer to the authorizing committees.

Speaking further, I observed that if the Senate appropriators went along with this it would seem to set up a confrontation between Congress and the Administration. Secretary Strickling has previously stated in public that the current freeze prevented NTIA from completing the IANA transition. However, this White House is well known for taking Executive action in defiance of Congressional restrictions.

As the news is just breaking there is no telling how it will be received by, or impact the ongoing implementation work going on within, the ICANN community.

That's all I have at the moment.

Best, Philip

Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal
Virtualaw LLC
1155 F Street, NW
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Washington, DC 20004
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Twitter: @VlawDC

"Luck is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey

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