Clock runs out on FOIA update
Popular bill to encourage broader document publication was stalled in the Senate until this week; Boehner declines to schedule House vote.
The FOIA Improvement Act of 2014 had widespread support in Congress, but both chambers struggled to get a final floor vote.
Members of the House of Representatives were set to leave town after passing the fiscal 2015 appropriations bill and a two-day continuing resolution in the evening hours of Dec. 11. One item they left on the table was a bill updating and expanding the Freedom of Information Act.
The measure would expand electronic publication of documents that are the subject of three FOIA requests, or are determined to be of high interest to the public. It would also establish some consequences for agencies that miss FOIA deadlines, and make it harder for records requests to be rejected on technicalities. And the bill would make a "presumption of openness" provision from a 2009 presidential directive the law of the land.
The Senate passed the bill, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), by voice vote Dec. 8, but only after being delayed by a hold placed by Sen. Jay Rockefeller. The retiring West Virginia Democrat said he was concerned that the bill could give those targeted in consumer and financial fraud cases "new ways to obstruct and delay investigations into their conduct."
The House passed a different version of the bill in February by a vote of 410-0, and it was supported by an array of open government groups. The Senate-passed version appeared headed to easy enactment --provided that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) brought it up for a vote.
That failed to happen. "And Boehner kills #FOIA improvements," Leahy tweeted in the early hours of Dec. 12, after the House closed up shop.
NEXT STORY: Congress averts shutdown with 2-day funding bill