Darrell Issa: “This has been a long time coming, and there is a lot of thanks to go around. Certainly for Senator Cornyn and Senator…”

“This has been a long time coming, and there is a lot of thanks to go around. Certainly for Senator Cornyn and Senator Leahy, this is going to be a proud week with the passage of this bill in the House and, ultimately, it going to the President. I don't believe this would have been possible without the partnership that Elijah Cummings and I formed some years ago. The House has led in not just one, but in two Congresses, sending to the Senate very tough language dramatically improving what we see as the flaws in FOIA that have developed. Congresswoman Maloney, very rightfully so, said there are a lot of things that the interest groups and Congressman Cummings and myself and, perhaps, everyone else who will vote on it here today would like to have seen. I don't want to belabor the point, but when this bill becomes law and is signed by the President, there will be enough left for a new bill to start again. Having said that, we celebrate today the fact that we have made some milestones. Codifying in law the presumption of openness and, once and for all, ending the deliberative process' unlimited length and reducing it to 25 years long, long after a President has left office, is a good start. I want to note that, in the original House bill--one area that I was particularly pleased that Mr. Cummings and I were able to come to an agreement on--if an agency unreasonably delays, there should be a result.…”