-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 16, 2007 12:27:44 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: No Freedom of Information, Bush Declares
VETO THREATS HANG OVER HOUSE FOIA BILLS
By Jim Abrams
Associated Press, March 14, 2007
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Congress_Sunshine.html
WASHINGTON -- Open-government bills sped to House passage Wednesday
as Democrats pushed to make the president and his executive branch
more forthcoming about their actions.
The White House struck back with veto threats.
Aided by substantial Republican support, the Democrats approved
legislation to force government agencies to be more responsive to
the millions of Freedom of Information Act requests for public
documents they receive every year.
The House also easily passed bills to require donors to
presidential libraries to identify themselves - an issue as
President Bush prepares for his own library - and to reverse a 2001
Bush decision making it easier for presidents to keep their records
from public scrutiny.
The White House, citing the president's constitutional
prerogatives, warned that the presidential records bill would be
vetoed if it reached his desk. The White House threatened to veto a
separate bill, to better protect government whistle-blowers, that
was being considered Wednesday.
The votes were 390-34 on the presidential library bill; 333-93 on
the presidential records bill; and 308-117 on the FOIA legislation.
Those three bills and the whistle-blower bill are part of the media-
led Sunshine Week. Democrats are using the annual event to
highlight what they say is a disturbing level of secrecy in the
Bush administration.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, heard testimony on a
parallel FOIA bill. Introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and
John Cornyn, R-Texas, it would improve administration of the law
and penalize agencies that fail to comply in a timely fashion.
Media representatives said seven agencies have gone more than a
decade without responding to some requests for information under
the law. They endorsed the bill's penalties, its provisions to
allow people to track the progress of their requests and its plan
to repay attorney fees in successful suits for records that were
denied.
Tom Curley, president and chief executive of The Associated Press
and a member of the media Sunshine in Government Initiative, said
AP's legal battles to get information about suspected terrorists
detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had cost "well into six figures,"
but the Pentagon proposed to reimburse only $11,000. Under current
law, he said, "We'll have to sue again to get a higher, fairer
number."
The House bill goes a step further than the Senate version in
restoring a "presumption of disclosure" standard. That would oblige
agencies to release requested information unless there is a finding
that such a disclosure could do harm.
The requirement would overturn a memo by former Attorney General
John Ashcroft after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, advising against
the release of information whenever there was uncertainty over
security or law enforcement exemptions.
The White House said in a statement it strongly opposed the House
provision, contending it would upset the balance between the
public's right to know and the need to safeguard certain information.
The statement said the administration was against the bill because
it was "premature and counterproductive" to legislate new
requirements on federal agencies before they have a chance to put
in place changes the president previously outlined.
The 40-year-old FOIA law was a promise that people could find out
what their government was doing "in all but a few kinds of highly
sensitive or confidential matters," Curley said. "The law does back
them. But in many cases the government doesn't back the law."
Democrats claimed that situation has worsened under this
administration.
"For the past six years, we have had an administration that has
tried to operate in secrecy, without transparency, without the
public having knowledge about their action," said Rep. Henry
Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee. "Well, this week, Congress is finally pushing back."
Caroline Fredrickson, director of the American Civil Liberties
Union's Washington legislative office, said the FOIA bill was
needed because "this has been the most secretive administration
since the Nixon years. ... It is too easy for the government to
defy requests for information it is obligated to turn over."
The presidential records measure would rescind Bush's 2001
executive order giving current and former presidents and vice
presidents authority to withhold presidential records or delay
their release indefinitely.
The act was passed after Watergate "to underscore the fact that
presidential records belong to the American people, not to the
president," Waxman said. The presidential directive, he said,
"undermines the entire purpose" of the act.
Sunshine Week, March 11-17, is a three-year-old national initiative
led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. It is intended to
open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom
of information. Participants include print, broadcast and online
news media, civic groups, libraries, non-profits, schools and others.
The Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday also took up an open-
government issue, a bill that would force Senate campaign finance
reports to be filed electronically rather than in paper format.
House and presidential candidates file electronically, and "there
is no excuse for keeping our own campaign finance information
inaccessible to the public," said Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis.
Associated Press writer Michael J. Sniffen contributed to this report.
AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's
free from AOL at AOL.com.
www.ctrl.org
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
<A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
