A number of Congressional Republicans today questioned National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for apparent violation of federal law in using federal funds to relinquish U.S. oversight of the Internet.
Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), James Lankford (Okla.) and Mike Lee (Utah) along with Rep. Sean Duffy (Wis.) in a letter on Tuesday to NTIA Assistant Secretary Lawrence Strickling, expressed concern regarding agency's "apparent violation of federal law in using federal funds to relinquish its responsibility with respect to Internet domain name systems functions." Federal funds were used, the group claims, in the transition effort despite 2016 omnibus prohibiting use of funds to relinquish NTIA responsibility with respect to Internet domain names system functions, including authoritative root zone file and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions.