Congressional Record
Senate – June 27, 2007
[Pages S8602-S8603] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] 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 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 ____________________
https://www.congress.gov/crec/2007/06/27/CREC-2007-06-27-pt1-PgS8602-4.pdf