Congress is still trying to block the US from releasing control of the Internet

Republican leaders in Congress released a $1.15 trillion budget proposal. It's a massive bill with several huge points of contention, including tax breaks and military spending, but nestled within its 2,009 pages is a small provision that could frustrate attempts to loosen the country's grip on governance of the web.

The proposal seems to address Republican concerns of an international takeover of the Internet by prohibiting any governmental organizations from exercising oversight. But despite the proposal, the 2016 funding bill prohibits the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) from spending any money "to relinquish the responsibility of the [NTIA]... with respect to internet domain name system functions," through next year. It's the same language Congress passed in its last omnibus spending bill, which blocked the NTIA from taking action until September 30th, 2015. Congress' effort to block the handover may end up being moot since it looks like the government will need a lot of time to study it; the NTIA says it could take until late 2016 to complete an evaluation process, and it has already renewed its relationship with ICANN through September 30th, 2016 — the same day Congress' proposed budget would expire.