Political Quotes

“Senator Cornyn and I have worked together to improve and protect the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA--our Nation's premiere transparency law--for many years and look forward to continuing this partnership. The bill we passed today codifies the principle that President Obama laid out in his 2009 Executive order in which he asked all Federal agencies to adopt a ``presumption of openness'' when considering the release of government information under FOIA. This policy embodies the very spirit of FOIA. By putting the force of law behind the presumption of openness, Congress can establish a transparency standard that will remain for generations to come. Importantly, codifying the presumption of openness will help reduce the perfunctory withholding of documents through the overuse of FOIA's exemptions. It requires agencies to consider whether the release of particular documents will cause any foreseeable harm to an interest the applicable exemption is meant to protect. If it will not, the documents should be released.”