[Congressional Record: June 27, 2007 (Senate)]
[Page S8602-S8603]
OPEN GOVERNMENT ACT
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, on July 4, the Nation will celebrate the
41st anniversary of the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, landmark
legislation that has guaranteed the public's ``right to know'' for
generations of Americans. Regrettably, the Senate will mark this very
important anniversary without having passed the Openness Promotes
Effectiveness in Our National Government Act, the OPEN Government Act,
S. 849, comprehensive legislation that Senator Cornyn and I introduced
earlier this year to strengthen and reinvigorate FOIA for all
Americans.
Responsive government and transparent decisionmaking are bedrock
American values. FOIA honors and helps translate those values into
practice, and the OPEN Government Act will help FOIA work better in
serving the public's interest.
The Judiciary Committee favorably reported this bipartisan
legislation in April. But a Republican hold is delaying consideration
of this important FOIA reform bill. The Senate Republican leadership
has also ignored requests to debate this bill on the Senate floor,
needlessly stalling these long-overdue, bipartisan reforms to
strengthen FOIA.
For more than four decades, FOIA's timeless values of openness and
transparency in government have ensured access to Government
information. Just this week, we witnessed the great value of FOIA in
shedding light on a controversial policy within the Office of the Vice
President regarding the handling of classified information, with news
reports that a FOIA request to the Justice Department (pdf) first revealed
that the Attorney General may have delayed a review into the legality
of this troubling policy.
Although FOIA remains an indispensable tool in shedding light on bad
policies and Government abuses, this open Government law is being
hampered by excessive delays and lax FOIA compliance. Today, Americans
who seek information under FOIA remain less likely to obtain it than
during any other time in FOIA's 40-plus year history. According to the
National Security Archive, an independent research institute, the
oldest outstanding FOIA requests date back to 1989, before the collapse
of the Soviet Union.
Moreover, more than a year after the President's FOIA Executive order
to
[[Page S8603]]
improve agency FOIA performance, FOIA backlogs are at an alltime high.
According to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office,
Federal agencies had 43 percent more FOIA requests pending and
outstanding in 2006 than in 2002. In addition, the percentage of FOIA
requestors who obtained at least some of the information that they
requested from the Government declined by 31 percent in 2006, according
to a study by the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government.
As the first major reform to FOIA in more than a decade, the OPEN
Government Act would help to reverse these troubling trends and to
restore the public's trust in their Government. In so doing, this bill
is a fitting tribute to FOIA and a wise investment in our American
democracy.
The OPEN Government Act promotes and enhances public disclosure of
Government information under FOIA by helping Americans to obtain timely
responses to their FOIA requests. This bill also improves transparency
in the Federal Government's FOIA process by restoring meaningful
deadlines for agency action under FOIA; imposing real consequences on
Federal agencies for missing FOIA's 20-day statutory deadline;
clarifying that FOIA applies to Government records held by outside
private contractors; establishing a FOIA hotline service for all
Federal agencies; and creating a FOIA Ombudsman to provide FOIA
requestors and Federal agencies with a meaningful alternative to costly
litigation.
Let me also be clear about what this bill does not do. This bill does
not harm or impede in any way the Government's ability to withhold or
protect classified information. Classified, national security and
homeland security-related information are all expressly exempt from
FOIA's disclosure mandate, and this bill does nothing to alter these
important exemptions. Senator Cornyn and I have also offered an
amendment to this bill that would preserve the right of Federal
agencies to assert these and other FOIA exemptions, even if agencies
miss the 20-day statutory deadline under FOIA.
The OPEN Government Act is cosponsored by a bipartisan group of 13
Senators, including the bill's lead Republican cosponsor, Senator
Cornyn. This bill is also endorsed by more than 115 business, public
interest, and news organizations from across the political and
ideological spectrum, including
the American Library Association,
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, OpenTheGovernment.org, Public Citizen,
the Republican Liberty Caucus, the Sunshine in Government Initiative,
and the Vermont Press Association. I thank all of the cosponsors of
this bill for their commitment to open government. I also thank the
many organizations that have endorsed the OPEN Government Act for their
support of this legislation.
The OPEN Government Act is a good-government bill that Democrats and
Republicans alike can and should work together to enact. If there are
legitimate concerns with this bill, those concerns should be openly
debated and the Senate should promptly pass this legislation.
Senator Cornyn and I both know that open government is not a
Democratic issue or a Republican issue. It is an American issue. It is
in this bipartisan spirit that I urge the Senate to promptly consider
the OPEN Government Act and that I encourage all Senators to support
this important FOIA reform legislation.
I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a list of the
bill's supporters following my remarks.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
List of Supporters of the Leahy-Cornyn Open Government Act, S. 849
Alliance for Justice
America Association of Law Libraries
American Association of Small Property Owners
American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
The American Conservative Union
American Families United
American Library Association
American Society of Newspaper Editors, Member of Sunshine in
Government Initiative
Animal Welfare Institute
ASPCA
Assassination Archives and Research Center
Associated Press, Member of Sunshine in Government Initiative
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, Member of Sunshine
in Government Initiative
Association of American Publishers
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance
Blancett Ranches, Aztec, NM
Californians Aware
Californians for Western Wilderness
Center for Democracy and Technology
Center for Energy Research
Center for National Security Studies
Citizen Action New Mexico
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
Chamber of Commerce of the United States
Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, Member of
Sunshine in Government Initiative
Common Cause
Community Recovery Services
Conservation Congress
Doctors for Open Government
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
The E-Accountability
FoundationlParentadvocates.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Environmental Defense Institute
Environmental Integrity Project
Ethics in Government Group
Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety & Health, Inc.
Florida First Amendment Foundation
Forest Guardians
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Friends of Animals
Friends of the Wild Swan
Georgia Forest Watch
Georgians for Open Government
Government Accountability Project
Great Basin Mine Watch
Gun Owners of America
HALT,Inc
The Health Integrity Project
HEAL Utah
The Humane Society of the United States
Idaho Sporting Congress, Inc.
Indiana Coalition for Open Government
The James Madison Project
Law Librarian Association of Greater New York
Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin
League of Women Voters of the U.S.
Liberty Coalition
Los Alamos Study Group
Maine Association of Broadcasters
Mine Safety and Health News
The Multiracial Activist
National Association of Broadcasters, Member of Sunshine in
Government Initiative
National Association of Manufacturers
National Coalition Against Censorship
National Freedom of Information Coalition
National Newspaper Association, Member of Sunshine in
Government Initiative
National Press Club
National Security Archive
National Taxpayers Union
National Treasury Employees Union
National Whistleblower Center
Natural Resources Defense Council
The New Grady Coalition
Newspaper Association of America, Member of Sunshine in
Government Initiative
No FEAR Coalition
Northern California Association of Law Libraries
Northwest Environmental Advocates
Nuclear Watch New Mexico
Okanogan Highlands Bottling Company
OMB Watch
Open Society Policy Center
OpenTheGovernment.org
Oregon Natural Desert Association
Oregon Peace Works
Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, Inc.
People For the American Way
Project On Government Oversight
Public Citizen
Radio-Television News Directors Association, Member of
Sunshine in Government Initiative
ReadtheBill.org Education Fund
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Member of
Sunshine in Government Initiative
Republican Liberty Caucus
Reynolds, Motl & Sherwood, PLLP
The Rutherford Institute
Sagebrush Sea Campaign
Semmelweis Society International
Snake River Alliance
Society of American Archivists
Society of Professional Journalists, Member of Sunshine in
Government Initiative
Southern California Association of Law Libraries
Southwest Research and Information Center
The Student Health Integrity Project
Tax Analysts
Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive
Environment)
Union of Concerned Scientists
VA Whistleblowers Coalition
Vermont Coalition for Open Government
Vermont Press Association
Western Environmental Law Center
Western Lands Project
Western Resource Advocates
The Wilderness Society
Wild Wilderness
Wilderness Workshop
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