Issa rejects federal transparency bill

A new bill designed to improve federal government transparency won't be considered by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, according to Federal News Radio.

The committee's ranking member, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D.-Md.), introduced the Transparency and Openness in Government Act (H. R. 1144), which would combine the Presidential Records Act Amendments, Electronic Message Preservation Act, Government Accountability Office Improvement Act, Presidential Library Donation Reform Act and Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments into one bill, Federal News Radio reported.

In a letter to Cummings, Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R.-Calif) said the panel won't consider the measure because the Senate failed to pass its individual provisions. Issa said he's looking for global solutions for federal transparency, such as governmentwide data standards that would make important information available to the public in an open and accessible format.