Washington, DC-

Today, the U.S. House approved two bills originally co-sponsored by Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) that restore open and timely access to Presidential Records and requires public disclosure of major donations to Presidential Libraries. H.R. 35, the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2009, was approved by a vote of 359 – 58.
In a statement on the House floor this morning, Congressman Clay, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Information Policy, the Census and National Archives, said, “The American people value the importance of transparency and having an open government. Citizens have a right to know how and why important decisions are made at the highest level of our government. This straightforward and bipartisan legislation ensures this by requiring presidential records to be treated as the property of the American people.” H.R. 35 restores meaningful public access to former presidents’ official papers by overturning a 2001 Bush executive order that gave current and former presidents, as well as former vice presidents, broad authority to withhold presidential documents or delay their release indefinitely.

The House also approved today by a vote of 388 -31, HR 36, the Presidential Library Donation Reform Act. Mr. Clay’s bill requires the disclosure of donors who contribute over $200 to presidential libraries during a president’s term and for a minimum of four years after the president’s term ends.

In his floor statement in support of H.R. 36, Chairman Clay said, “Federal election law limits the amount a single donor can give to a political campaign and requires that donations and donor information be disclosed to the public. But similar requirements do not apply to presidential library fundraising campaigns and this creates the potential for large donors to exert, or appear to exert, improper influence over a sitting president.”
Presidential library fundraising organizations would be required to disclose the amount and date of each contribution, the name of the contributor, and if the contributor is an individual, the occupation of the contributor. The National Archives would be required to make the information available to the public through a free, searchable, and downloadable database on the Internet.

Both H.R. 35 and H.R. 36 are key elements of Chairman Clay’s ongoing efforts to ensure open government and full transparency for the American people.
The legislation now moves on to the U.S. Senate for consideration.
-30-