Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, obviously, my colleagues know that I'm a strong proponent of openness and transparency rules in government. I'm concerned about this amendment because it seems as if it would apply special Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, requirements on one agency alone. {time} 1700 As with the underlying bill, I am concerned that this would create confusion and inconsistency. Most frankly, I also question what the problem is that we're addressing here. Just 2 weeks ago, Chairman Issa, the chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over FOIA matters, issued a report in which he gave an A grade for FOIA compliance relative to the FCC. It is also my understanding that the FCC is already publishing on its Web site logs for tracking, for responding to, and for managing FOIA requests. So it's a little confusing given the grade that Chairman Issa issued relative to the FCC and FOIA requests and relative to the issues that I raised. So I think, perhaps, that the amendment may be redundant or simply not needed at all. Those are my observations, and I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden). The amendment was agreed to. Amendment No. 7 Offered by Mr. Owens The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 7 printed in House Report 112 422.”