Sen. Cruz Leads Bicameral Letter Asking GAO to Determine Whether Obama Administration Has Power...

Judiciary Chairmen Grassley and Goodlatte, with Rep. Issa, join Cruz to get answers on whether Administration’s plan violates the Constitution

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), along with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting an affirmative determination of whether the Obama Administration’s plan to transfer U.S. oversight of the Internet violates the Constitution.

The Wall Street Journal's columnist L. Gordon Crovitz reported on the letter today in his Information Age column, “Not Obama’s to Give Away.”

Sen. Cruz said: “Under Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution, Congress has the exclusive power ‘to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States.’ If the contract governing U.S. oversight of the Internet is indeed government property, the Administration’s intention to cede control to the ‘global stakeholder community’ -- including nations like Iran, Russia and China that do not value free speech and in fact seek to stifle it -- is in violation of the Constitution and should be stopped.”

The letter is being sent at a time when efforts by both the Administration and Congress, via the DOTCOM Act, are underway to facilitate the transition of U.S. control over the Internet without an affirmative vote from Congress. In another action to protect U.S. control of the Internet, Sen. Cruz recently filed the DOTCOM Act as an amendment to the highway reauthorization bill the Senate considered in July. Cruz's amendment is identical to the original version of the DOTCOM Act being considered by the Senate with one exception: it would require Congress to have an affirmative up or down vote on the Obama Administration's plan to give away the Internet.

Read the full text of the Cruz-Grassley-Goodlatte-Issa letter here and below:  September 22, 2015

Mr. Gene Dodaro
Comptroller General
U.S. Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20548
Dear Mr. Dodaro:

On March 14, 2014, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (“NTIA”) announced its intent to relinquish oversight of Internet domain name functions to the “global stakeholder community.” This proposed transition raises questions about NTIA’s authority to transfer possession and control of critical components of the Internet’s infrastructure to a third party.

The Internet as we know it has evolved from a network infrastructure first created by Department of Defense researchers. One key component of that infrastructure is the root zone file, which the federal government currently designates as a “national IT asset.”[1] Creation of the root zone file was funded by the American taxpayer and coordinated by the Department of Defense, and the file has remained under United States control ever since.

Under Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution, Congress has the exclusive power “to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States.” One question arising from NTIA’s decision to transfer its Internet oversight functions to a third party is whether NTIA may relinquish possession and control of the root zone file—or any other similar component of the Internet that was financed and developed by the United States—without authorization from Congress. This concern was raised in 2000 by the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”), which questioned whether NTIA could relinquish authority over the root zone file and concluded that it was “unclear whether such a transition would involve a transfer of government property to a private entity.”[2] The 2000 GAO report further detailed that the Department of Commerce advised the GAO at the time that “we have not devoted the possibly substantial staff resources that would be necessary to develop a legal opinion as to whether legislation would be necessary” to authorize transfer of the root zone file. Congress should be made aware of the legal status of the root zone file—or any other potential government property—before it makes any final decisions about whether to transfer the government’s Internet oversight functions to a third party.

Some observers and parties involved in the proposed transfer have asserted that the termination of NTIA’s contract with ICANN would not result in the transfer of United States Government property.[3] Others believe that termination of this contract would result in government property being transferred to ICANN and point to a number of factors that would indicate that the root zone file and other contractual deliverables are property of the United States. Supporters of this position point to the fact that the United States acquired title to the root zone file because it was invented pursuant to Department of Defense contracts.[4] In addition, the United States has long claimed ownership or control over the root zone file. For example, President Clinton’s Internet “czar” Ira Magaziner asserted United States ownership of the entire Domain Name System because “[t]he United States paid for the Internet, the Net was created under its auspices, and most importantly everything [researchers] did was pursuant to government contracts.”[5] Additionally the Commerce Department’s contract with ICANN explicitly declares that “[a]ll deliverables provided under this contract,” including the “automated root zone,” are “the property of the U.S. government.”[6] And Verisign and ICANN contracts make clear that changes to the root zone file cannot be made without approval of the Department of Commerce.[7] Congress has also been actively engaged in managing the root zone file. Recently, it enacted the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015, which explicitly prohibited the Commerce Department from using federal funds to relinquish stewardship of the domain name system, “including responsibility with respect to the authoritative root zone file.”[8]

Given this history, we are concerned that NTIA might potentially relinquish ownership of some form of United States property. To inform the Congress so that it may take any necessary and appropriate steps regarding NTIA’s planned transition of the IANA functions, we would like the GAO to conduct a review to address a number of specific questions.

1. Would the termination of the NTIA’s contract with ICANN cause Government property, of any kind, to be transferred to ICANN?

2. Is the authoritative root zone file, or other related or similar materials or information, United States government property?

3. If so, does the NTIA have the authority to transfer the root zone file or, other related materials or information to a non-federal entity?

Please include in this report a description and analysis of the relevant legal authorities and case law dealing with the transfer of United States Government property. We understand that to perform this work, GAO will need to conduct both significant audit work and complex legal analysis.

Please contact Jonathan Nabavi (Chairman Grassley), Sean McLean (Senator Cruz), Vishal Amin (Chairman Goodlatte), and Veronica Wong (Congressman Issa) of our staffs if there are questions regarding this request.

[1]See, Verisign Company Information: http://www.verisign.com/en_US/company-information/index.xhtml
[2]U.S. Government Accountability Office., GAO-B-284206, Department of Commerce: Relationship with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (2000)
[3]Letter from Lawrence Strickling, Assistant Sec’y for Commc’ns and Info., U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, to Representative Sean Duffy & Representative James Sensenbrenner, U.S. House of Representatives (June 11, 2015)
[4]U.S. Congressional Research Service. Internet Governance and the Domain Name System: Issues for Congress (R42351; August 18, 2015), by Lennard G. Kruger
[5]Jack Goldsmith & Tim Wu, Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World 41 (2006)
[6]Internet Assigned Numbers Authority Functions Contract between U.S. Department of Commerce and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Contract Number SA1301-12-CN-0035. October 1, 2012.
[7]See, Amendment 11 of the Cooperative Agreement NCR-9218742 between the U.S. Department of Commerce and Verisign, Inc. Also see, Internet Assigned Numbers Authority Functions Contract between U.S. Department of Commerce and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Contract Number SA1301-12-CN-0035. October 1, 2012.
[8]Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, Pub. L. No 113-235, § 540, 128 Stat. 2130, 2217 (Dec. 16, 2014)

And you blame this on one senator out of 100? Ted Cruz is the only one who is consistently shining the light to the Washington cartel.

You are talking about Ted Cruz's legislative accomplishments. Do you mean to go along and get along with the Washington cartel to show that he has legislative accomplishments?

You mean that the GOP-controlled Senate is not responding to his leadership or brilliant ideas? We get the same excuses from the leadership of the GOP-controlled Congress, i.e., nothing can be done until the GOP takes the WH. Until then, Obama will veto everything. So all we are left with are symbolic gestures and rhetorical victories.

Is it any wonder that two-thirds of GOP voters believe the politicians have betrayed them?

You ask for it. This is the first one. More is coming.

Our Standard: The Constitution

Ted Cruz has spent a lifetime fighting to defend the Constitution — our nation’s founding document and the supreme law of the land — which was crafted by our founding fathers to act as chains to bind the mischief of government and to protect the liberties endowed to us by our Creator.

Religious Liberty

Defended Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties against Obamacare’s contraception mandate.
Led the way on several cases including a U.S. Supreme Court case that preserved the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Successfully defended the words “under God” in the Texas Pledge of Allegiance and Texas schools’ moment of silence law in federal district court.
Galvanized national support for Houston pastors who had been subpoenaed by the City of Houston to provide the content of their sermons forcing the City to back down.
Supported the right of students to display banners containing religious content at school sporting events.
Successfully defended the constitutionality of the Texas Ten Commandments monument, winning a 5-4 landmark decision before the U.S. Supreme Court, setting an important national precedent for the right to display similar monuments.
Fought to help the Boy Scouts of America to reverse a district court ruling barring them from leasing a public park.

Second Amendment

Played a crucial role in preventing federal legislation to restrict the Second Amendment rights of Americans.
Authored legislation to strengthen the Second Amendment rights of Americans by allowing interstate firearms sales.
Led 31 states in District of Columbia v. Heller where the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a ban on firearms in a 5-4 landmark decision.
- Honored by the National Rifle Association with a 2008 resolution for his leadership in the Heller case, which noted that his “efforts made this victory for the American people possible.”
- Awarded the NRA’s 2010 Carter-Knight Freedom Fund, which “rewards exemplary activities in the support and protection of the right to Keep and Bear Arms” for his work in the Heller and McDonald cases.
Argued against unreasonable and burdensome gun restrictions before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Recognized by NRA executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre who observed, “Ted Cruz is one of our nation’s leading defenders of the Second Amendment. For over a decade, Ted has fought tirelessly to defend our constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and his leadership was absolutely critical to our major victories before the U.S. Supreme Court.”

U.S. Sovereignty

Fought and won a landmark ruling for U.S. sovereignty in Medellin v. Texas at the U.S. Supreme Court against 90 foreign nations and the President to ensure the supremacy of U.S. legal system against encroachment by international treaties and rulings of the “World Court.”
Cosponsored a resolution urging the president not to sign the UN Arms Treaty, which would have subordinated the Second Amendments rights of American citizens to global interests.

Government Overreach

Called for a special prosecutor to investigate the targeting of conservatives by the IRS.

Stronger, Safer America

A safer, stronger America safeguards freedom at home and across the globe. That’s why Ted Cruz has fought tirelessly to defend our nation’s servicemen and women, to restore America’s leadership in the world, and to secure our border and streamline our legal immigration system.

Opposed the Obama Administration’s dangerous deal with Iran that would allow Iran to pursue nuclear weapons.
Spearheaded legislation passed unanimously by Congress and signed by the President to prevent known terrorists from entering the United States as ambassadors to the United Nations.
Successfully pressured the Obama Administration to lift its unprecedented FAA ban on flights to Israel after exposing the move as, in essence, an economic boycott of our strongest ally in the Middle East. The ban was lifted within 36 hours of the Senator’s actions
Championed the Expatriate Terrorist Act to prevent Americans who join ISIS from returning to the United States to commit acts of terror at home.
Introduced legislation passed by the Senate to provide rewards for information leading to the arrest of Hamas terrorists responsible for the murder of American and Israeli teenagers.
Led the charge on a bipartisan resolution passed by the Senate to condemn Hamas’ use of civilians as human shields.
Authored legislation to allow victims of the Fort Hood terrorist attack to be awarded the Purple Heart and appropriate benefits.
Joined Texas and 25 other states in a lawsuit to stop President Obama’s illegal executive amnesty.
Authored legislation to triple the size of the U.S. Border Patrol.
Authored legislation to streamline and simplify our legal immigration system by consolidating segmented visas, creating real and transparent caps, eliminating the diversity visa lottery, and treating all immigrants equally by eliminating the per-country caps.
Urged the strictest enforcement of laws punishing those with prior felony convictions who entered the country illegally in a U.S. Supreme Court Brief in Lopez v. Gonzales.
Authored legislation to ensure that members of our military deployed to combat the spread of Ebola are entitled to the same tax benefits as those serving in a combat zone.
Promoted the strengthening of existing law to prevent discrimination or retaliation against military service members who appropriately express their religious faith.
Represented more than 3 million veterans before the U.S. Supreme Court in Salazar v. Buono, defending the constitutionality of the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial. Along with co-counsel Kelly Shackelford of the Liberty Institute, then-Solicitor General Cruz fought for The American Legion, The Veterans of Foreign Wars, The Military Order of the Purple Heart, and the American Ex-Prisoners of War. In April 2010, the Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 decision in favor of the veterans.
Defended the constitutionality of the federal Solomon Amendment, which requires universities receiving federal funds to grant U.S. military recruiters equal access to campuses, notwithstanding the universities’ opposition to the military’s policies concerning sexual orientation.
Authored legislation to close a loophole in the federal “Motor Voter” law that preempts states from enforcing requirements that would ensure those registered to vote are U.S. citizens.

Life, Marriage & Family

Without life, there is no liberty. And ensuring every child is born into a home with a loving family provides the best chance for that child to achieve anything. That is why Ted Cruz has been on the front lines defending life and standing up for marriage when it has come under assault from activist judges.

Led the charge on behalf of 13 states to successfully defend, before the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal law that bans one form of late-term abortion, the Partial Birth Abortion Act.
Advocated for an investigation into abortion practices in the U.S. to prevent the atrocities witnessed in Kermit Gosnell’s facility from ever happening again.
Joined 18 states in successfully defending the New Hampshire parental-notification law before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Successfully defended in federal court Texas’s Rider 8, which prohibits state funds for groups that provide abortions.
Fought for the right of states to define marriage, without intrusion by unelected federal judges, by drafting the State Marriage Defense Act.
Defended Texas’s marriage laws when a renegade state court attempted to grant a divorce to a same-sex couple who had obtained a civil union in Vermont.
Authored legislation and a constitutional amendment in the Senate to prevent federal courts from further interfering with any state’s Constitutionally-protected authority to define marriage.

Jobs & Opportunity

The American Dream — the idea that anyone, through hard work and determination, can achieve anything — is under assault like never before. Obamacare, an overreaching federal government, and out of control spending threaten the ability of small businesses and entrepreneurs to create jobs and innovate. This has to stop and Ted Cruz has led the way to bring back jobs, growth, and opportunity to America.

Authored the Obamacare Repeal Act as his first piece legislation.
- Led the fight to defund Obamacare — the largest regulatory challenge facing our nation which has resulted in killing jobs, cutting workers’ hours, and causing millions of Americans to lose their doctors or health care.
Authored legislation to end taxpayer dollars subsidizing corporate fat cats, including the Ex-Im Bank.
Opposed the Renewable Fuel Standard ethanol subsidy.
Co-sponsored the Enhancing Educational Opportunities for All Act to expand school choice and make a quality K-12 education more accessible and affordable to low-income parents and students.
Authored legislation to expedite liquefied natural gas to support jobs, economic growth, and to stand united alongside our friends and allies in the face of Russian aggression.
Led the fight against regulating the Internet as a public utility because it threatens the Internet as a haven for entrepreneurial freedom and unlimited opportunity.
Set an early, high standard for meaningful Republican opposition to increasing the debt ceiling.
- Demanded a 60-vote threshold vote on a clean debt-ceiling increase in February 2013, when Republican leadership wanted to allow the Democrats to raise the limit with a simple majority vote.
- Insisted on a commitment from Democrats and Republicans in the Senate that the debt ceiling would not be increased as part of a deal to pass the budget .
Introduced the American Energy Renaissance Act to spur economic growth by harnessing our nation’s energy resources and removing federal impediments to energy exploration, development and trade and empowering the private sector to create good-paying, American jobs.
Sued the federal government to strike down portions of the Medicare Prescription Drug program as an unconstitutional intrusion in the sovereign authority of the States.
Opposed the Obama Administration’s Interior Department’s moratorium on offshore exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.
Urged the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Congress from impeding commercial development of private property in a state for the protection of a toad in that state.

Fought for the right of states to define marriage, without intrusion by unelected federal judges, by drafting the State Marriage Defense Act.

Defended Texas’s marriage laws when a renegade state court attempted to grant a divorce to a same-sex couple who had obtained a civil union in Vermont.

Authored legislation and a constitutional amendment in the Senate to prevent federal courts from further interfering with any state’s Constitutionally-protected authority to define marriage.

So how has that turned out? SCOTUS has made gay marriage the law of the land.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.