Politico: House Appropriations Proposes To Cut NTIA Funding To Prevent ICANN Transition

According to Politico.com the House Appropriations Committee is proposing to slash NTIA spending by 20% to defund the IANA transition.

“The House Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations subcommittee report on its FY15 funding bill unveiled this week expresses wariness about NTIA’s plan to relinquish oversight of ICANN.”

“The language won’t be official until the full committee approves it – but it’s not a huge surprise, given the House committee is led by Republicans, who have generally been opposed to the switch. ”

“Still, it puts on the record more opposition to the proposal – and could perhaps explain why the CJS subcommittee’s FY15 funding recommendations would cut NTIA spending by about 20 percent compared to this fiscal year. ”

“In order for this issue to be more fully considered by the Congress, the recommendation for NTIA does not include any funds to carry out a transition of these functions”.

“The full report is likely to be made public when the full appropriations committee approves it later this year.”