Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am proud to once again join with Senator Cornyn to introduce the FOIA Improvement Act, a bipartisan bill that will make our Federal government more accountable to all Americans by strengthening the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA. Senator Cornyn and I introduced an almost identical bill last year, and despite it passing the Senate unanimously, the House failed to act. This was deeply disappointing, and was a missed opportunity for Congress. But Senator Cornyn and I have worked together for more than a decade to make our government more open, through Democratic and Republican administrations and Republican and Democratic-led Congresses. We have a strong partnership, and we will not quit. We are determined to make progress on creating a more open and transparent government for all Americans. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2015 codifies what President Obama laid out in his historic 2009 memorandum by requiring Federal agencies to adopt a ``Presumption of Openness'' when considering the release of government information under FOIA. Under this bill, when considering FOIA requests Federal agencies must find a reasonable foreseeable harm in order to invoke a discretionary exemption and withhold information from the public. The government should always err on the side of disclosure.…”