Congress On Verge Of Mandating Delayed FOIA Requests Be Penalized

[babylonsister]

Get out of the way, Kyl! :mad:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-17-foia-delays_N.htm?csp=34

Freedom of Information delays take years


Source: Coalition of Journalists for Open Government
By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY

snip//


Following easy passage by the House of Representatives and the Senate Judiciary Committee, however, the FOIA fix has been halted. Despite recent reports detailing delays and difficulties in getting government information, the Department of Justice has objected to the new legislation. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., is blocking it under Senate rules that allow any senator to place a "hold" on a bill.

The bill is supposed to speed up the FOIA process. It would establish a system to better track requests, create an ombudsman's office to mediate disputes with government agencies, and make the government pay requestors' legal fees if their information was withheld.

The measure passed the House in March, 308-117. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed it in April, but it has been held up ever since.

The Bush administration opposes the bill, arguing it could impose new administrative and financial burdens on agencies and diminish the Justice Department's supervisory role. It wants the bill shelved while agencies respond to a 2005 executive order from President Bush directing them to fix FOIA operations.

"Progress has been made by various federal agencies. Therefore, we believe that legislative changes to FOIA are premature," says Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin.

more...

[EST]

1. You can tell a lot about who committed a crime by who blocks

access to the facts. The bush administration is criminal in the extreme and can be expected to object to any measure that might spread a little light in the dark kingdom.

Expect, also, bush, on leaving office, to declare anything having to do with this misbegotten maladministration to be secret for at least fifty years, further limiting our access to the truth.