[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 7, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3561-S3562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4486. Mr. CRUZ (for himself, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Lankford) submitted 
an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 2943, to 
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2017 for military activities 
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for 
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military 
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which 
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle I of title X, add the following:

     SEC. 1097. IANA FUNCTIONS CONTRACT; UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
                   OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN DOMAINS.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) The Department of Commerce and the National 
     Telecommunications and Information Administration (in this 
     section referred to as the ``NTIA'') should be responsible 
     for maintaining the continuity and stability of services 
     related to certain interdependent Internet technical 
     management functions, known collectively as the Internet 
     Assigned Numbers Authority (in this section referred to as 
     the ``IANA''), which includes--
       (A) the coordination of the assignment of technical 
     Internet protocol parameters;
       (B) the administration of certain responsibilities 
     associated with the Internet domain name system root zone 
     management;
       (C) the allocation of Internet numbering resources; and
       (D) other services related to the management of the 
     Advanced Research Project Agency and INT top-level domains.
       (2) The interdependent technical functions described in 
     paragraph (1) were performed on behalf of the Federal 
     Government under a contract between the Defense Advanced 
     Research Projects Agency and the University of Southern 
     California as part of a research project known as the Tera-
     node Network Technology project. As the Tera-node Network 
     Technology project neared completion and the contract neared 
     expiration in 1999, the Federal Government recognized the 
     need for the continued performance of the IANA functions as 
     vital to the stability and correct functioning of the 
     Internet.
       (3) The NTIA may use its contract authority to maintain the 
     continuity and stability of services related to the IANA 
     functions.
       (4) If the NTIA uses its contract authority, the 
     contractor, in the performance of its duties, must have or 
     develop a close constructive working relationship with all 
     interested and affected parties to ensure quality and 
     satisfactory performance of the IANA functions. The 
     interested and affected parties include--
       (A) the multi-stakeholder, private sector led, bottom-up 
     policy development model for

[[Page S3562]]

     the domain name system that the Internet Corporation for 
     Assigned Names and Numbers represents;
       (B) the Internet Engineering Task Force and the Internet 
     Architecture Board;
       (C) Regional Internet Registries;
       (D) top-level domain operators and managers, such as 
     country codes and generic;
       (E) governments; and
       (F) the Internet user community.
       (5) The IANA functions contract of the Department of 
     Commerce explicitly declares that ``[a]ll deliverables 
     provided under this contract become the property of the U.S. 
     Government.''. One of the deliverables is the automated root 
     zone.
       (6) Former President Bill Clinton's Internet czar Ira 
     Magaziner stated that ``[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.''
       (7) Under section 3 of article IV of the Constitution of 
     the United States, 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''.
       (8) The .gov and .mil top-level domains are the property of 
     the United States Government, and as property, the United 
     States Government should have the exclusive control and use 
     of those domains in perpetuity.
       (b) Maintaining the IANA Functions Contract.--The Assistant 
     Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information may 
     not allow the responsibility of the National 
     Telecommunications and Information Administration with 
     respect to the Internet domain name system functions, 
     including responsibility with respect to the authoritative 
     root zone file and the performance of the Internet Assigned 
     Numbers Authority functions, to terminate, lapse, expire, be 
     cancelled, or otherwise cease to be in effect unless a 
     Federal statute enacted after the date of enactment of this 
     Act expressly grants the Assistant Secretary such authority.
       (c) Exclusive United States Government Ownership and 
     Control of .gov and .mil Domains.--Not later than 60 days 
     after the date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant 
     Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information 
     shall provide to Congress a written certification that the 
     United States Government has--
       (1) secured sole ownership of the .gov and .mil top-level 
     domains; and
       (2) entered into a contract with the Internet Corporation 
     for Assigned Names and Numbers that provides that the United 
     States Government has exclusive control and use of those 
     domains in perpetuity.
                                 ______