Political Quotes

“I thank Senator Johnson for his remarks and for his interest and support for this legislation. I agree that it is important to ensure that our financial regulators are able to do the work required to maintain the safety and soundness of our financial institutions. I also agree that the free flow of information between regulators and financial institution is important to this process. Exemption 8 was intended by Congress, and has been interpreted by the courts, to be very broadly construed to ensure the security of financial institutions and to safeguard the relationship between financial institutions and their supervising agencies. The proposed amendments to the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, are not intended to undermine the broad protection in Exemption 8 or to undermine the integrity of the supervisory examination process. Moreover, much of the information that the government is permitted to withhold under Exemption 8, is also protected under Exemption 4, which exempts from disclosure commercial and financial information that is privileged or confidential. Exemption 4 covers information prohibited from disclosure under the Trade Secrets Act and similar laws, and as such does not provide for discretionary disclosure under FOIA. As with other exemptions that are based on separate legal restrictions, it is understood that the foreseeable harm standard will not apply to most of the information falling under Exemption 4.…”