Leahy And Cornyn: White House Trying To ‘Eliminate’ FOIA Office

[babylonsister]

Cornyn? :wow:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/26/leahy-foia/

Leahy And Cornyn: White House Trying To ‘Eliminate’ FOIA Office


In August, the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government reported that “current government handling of FOIA requests is deteriorating” and that the Justice Department was “consistently granted the lowest percentage of appeals of any agency.”

On New Years Eve, facing “congressional pushback against the Bush administration’s movement to greater secrecy,” President Bush signed the OPEN Government Act, toughening the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The legislation — unanimously passed by the House and Senate — would push agencies to respond more quickly to records requests.

But now, the White House is doing everything it can to neuter the law. Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) said yesterday that Bush’s FY2009 “funds for the Office of Government Information Services authorized under the newly enacted OPEN Government Act will be shifted to the Department of Justice” from the National Archives. Congress Daily reports:

“But by shifting the funding to the Justice Department, OMB would effectively eliminate the office, because it appears no similar operation would be created there,” according to an aide to Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT). <…>

National Archives officials are relatively independent of political pressure, the staffer explained, “but DOJ is different.” Government transparency advocates consider the department hostile to efforts to improve FOIA responsiveness, in part because it represents agencies sued by FOIA requesters.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a cosponsor of the OPEN Government legislation said he “does agree with Senator Leahy and would oppose that effort” of the adminstration.

The Justice Department’s efforts to protect government secrecy are notorious. In fact, in the 109th Congress, the Department “squelched efforts to pass the OPEN Government Act.” But even initially “putting it (funding) in DOJ would essentially obviate what Leahy and Cornyn did with the legislation,” said Patrice McDermott of OpenTheGovernment.org

Bush’s noncompliance with the legislation makes clear his effort to return to his old ways of egregious government secrecy.

[pleah]

1. Godless Warmongering Bastard and his cronies should be in jail, NOW!

[yurbud]

2. this should be getting a lot more attention

[creeksneakers2]

8. K & R

Its terrible how Bush gets away with these things and nothing is ever said. Democrats are busy fighting each other right now and nobody is minding the store. (Except Leahy)

[gratuitous]

3. "Oh, it's you . . . I was worried for a moment"

In the movie, "A Fish Called Wanda," villain Otto (Kevin Kline) is surprised by hero Archie (John Cleese), who sneaks up behind him with a pistol. Otto freezes for a moment before turning around to see that he's being accosted by a man he's bested all through the movie. "Oh, it's you . . . I was worried for a moment," Otto says with a smile before lowering his hands.

I'm sure that the Bush administration is similarly shaking in its boots at the prospect of "congressional pushback."

The good news is that Archie finally beats Otto, but only when he stiffens his resolve. I hope that time is coming soon.

[IDemo]

4. But the only Pythonisms we are hearing are "I always try to look on the bright side"

as our country and Constitution are being crucified.

from the movie "Life of Brian" (speaking of former Monty Python member John Cleese)

[annabanana]

5. I'll just BET they are... No one should ever know ANYTHING

about exactly how criminal their behavior has been...

[dickthegrouch]

6. Outrageous

FOIA needs to be made part of the constitution, so they can't screw with it.

I'm becoming less and less impressed by any party that would seek to restrict any but the most sensitive information - which in my mind consists of methods of killing people. EVERYTHING else should be available on demand.

[cali]

7. Fucking bastards

as if they didn't engage in enough secrecy. Go get 'em, Pat.

[Tatiana]

9. Cornyn is up for reelection.

He may be trying to curry favor with moderate Texan voters who are taking a hard look at Rick Noriega.

[flashl]

10. We can't have FISA, surveillance, and FOIA can we?

This admin find money to spend on its pet projects and it supports them by simply moving the funds from the programs it wants to suppress.

[VotesForWomen]

11. let's see, aren't the dems supposed to be in charge in congress? nt

[jtrockville]

12. This smacks of desperation.

Not sure why this administration would be desperate, since Democrats have assurance them there'd be no prosecution. But it sure seems like they're running scared.

[Kansas Wyatt]

13. BushCo needs a microscope shoved up it's ass

And everything these bastards have done, while in office, should be put on Special Reports covering the airwaves.

National Security excuses? They are fighting a bunch of third world thugs, and if the DOD cannot accomplish it's mission, then they need to explain why the most expensive and best military in world history cannot complete it's mission against third world thugs.

Note: This is not a knock against the military, it's a knock against BushCo's bullshit excuses.