House Subcommittee Passes Bill to Strengthen FOIA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Government Management, Finance, and Accountability Subcommittee today approved H.R. 867, the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in Our National Government Act of 2005 (“OPEN Government Act”).  This legislation would amend the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to close loopholes in the law, help requesters obtain more timely responses, and provide FOIA officials with the tools needed to ensure that the Federal government remains open and accessible.

“Today we must remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said, ‘Information is the currency of democracy.’  FOIA is an essential tool to ensure that the citizens of this nation have access to information in the way Jefferson envisioned.  Over the years FOIA has been amended to keep pace with technology and requestor trends to ensure open access to information.  The legislation before us today, along with the President’s Executive Order issued late last year, are a continuing part of that process and will help bring FOIA into the 21st century,” said Chairman Todd Russell Platts (R-PA-19).

The OPEN Government Act was amended by full Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman in today’s mark up.  Rep. Waxman’s amendment seeks to overturn two memoranda issued in 2001 and 2002 by the Executive Branch.  Open government advocates have argued that these memoranda resulted in the unintentional withholding of important information and created an air of secrecy contrary to the original intent of FOIA.  The Waxman amendment also includes specific reporting requirements to better track how Federal agencies respond to FOIA requests.  The language in the Waxman amendment was not included in the Senate version of the OPEN Government Act (S. 394), which was reported favorably by the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 21, 2006. 

H.R. 867, as amended, was passed by voice vote and reported to the full Government Reform Committee for consideration.  The Subcommittee held two hearings on FOIA implementation during the 109th Congress.  On May 11, 2005, the Subcommittee held a hearing entitled “Information Policy in the 21st Century – A Review of the Freedom of Information Act” and on July 26, 2006, held a hearing entitled, “Implementing FOIA – Does the Bush Administration’s Executive Order Improve Processing?”