Political Quotes

“Madam President, I understand that later today the House of Representatives will vote to pass a reform of the Freedom of Information Act, which is often referred to by its acronym, FOIA. I wish to say a few words about that legislation. I applaud the effort of the House. I have long believed that it is really important to make sure that the people who actually pay the bills and whom we serve know what government is doing on their behalf. Thus the name of the legislation signed by President Johnson many years ago is the Freedom of Information Act. Too often here in Washington, DC, the people in charge of the information seem to view it as proprietary, as if it were theirs. In a political culture where information is power, they don't want to share that information with the people who actually own it and are the ones who hold the elected officials accountable. An open government is really one of the first prerequisites to a free society, and that is because an open and accessible government is absolutely necessary for Americans to hold their elected officials accountable. Our Founding Fathers, of course, recognized that a truly democratic system depends on an informed citizenry, but Americans cannot do that without the information and transparency that these laws provide.…”