Sen Reid blasts Sen Cruz over Internet fight

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blasted Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) for trying to tie a fight over management of the Internet to a short-term government funding bill with an Oct 1 deadline. "It's not [time for] a big debate for talking about how we change the internet forever," the outgoing Senate Democratic leader said. "It's not a time to try to satisfy Cruz because he doesn't get along with the caucus and they're trying to shut him up."

Top Democratic lawmakers have signaled they don't want to include Sen Cruz's language, which would prevent the Administration from relinquishing the US's role in Internet oversight, in the short-term funding bill known as a continuing resolution (CR). Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Democratic lawmakers have made a counteroffer to Republican lawmakers as part of the spending negotiations for a "clean" CR that wouldn't link the Internet fight to the bill. But top Republican lawmakers — who have argued that nothing about the deal is finalized until the entire agreement is done — said Sen Cruz's effort is still part of the talks. "I think it's going to have to get resolved one way or another before the end of [September], and this is the only vehicle out there," Sen John Thune (R-SD) said.