Jason Chaffetz: “This is a good, much-needed piece of legislation. It is hard to believe that FOIA, the Freedom of Information Act, was…”

“This is a good, much-needed piece of legislation. It is hard to believe that FOIA, the Freedom of Information Act, was passed nearly 50 years ago. We are a little different in the United States. We are self-critical. We do look at things. We do examine things. We do it in the spirit of making this country better. We also have to remember who we work for. We work for the American people. The American people are paying the tab. It is their government, and they have the right to know. Updating this piece of legislation is something that, in particular, Congressman Issa sought to do some time ago. He put the wheels in motion and started to draft a good and much-needed bill. Coming together with the ranking member, Mr. Cummings, has made this all possible. We have had some good, vibrant discussions. We had 2 days of hearings in our committee. We heard from citizens. We heard from the media. We heard from a host of people. I think it is fair to say that, in large part, the FOIA, the way it operates now, is broken. I do agree and concur with the ranking member that, if we are going to have such a bombardment of requests, they need to be properly funded and there needs to be the personnel in order to make sure they can fulfill these requests. When appropriation season comes, I want to stand with Mr. Cummings and with others and make sure that it is properly funded so that those good people can do their good work.…”