It seems that some Republican senators are getting sick of the Bush crime family's veil of secrecy over everything. Cornyn has today introduced a bill with leahy to strengthen the FOIA.
Will wonders never cease?
http://www.aclu.org/NationalSecurity/NationalSecurity.cfm?ID=17485&c=108SEN. CORNYN ON FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
ACLU Lauds Introduction of Cornyn-Leahy 'OPEN Government Act,' Much-Needed Measure Would Increase Transparency, Access to Records February 16, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded the introduction of a measure, sponsored by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), designed to increase the transparency of the government by strengthening the Freedom of Information Act.
"Senator Cornyn and the ACLU do not often agree, but, as his bill shows, a commitment to open government transcends political ideologies," said Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington Office. "This much-needed bill will help buck the growing trend of hiding the actions of the government from public scrutiny. Secrecy, not openness, all too often seems to be the dominant trend of agencies in recent times."
The bill, called the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act of 2005, or the "OPEN Government Act of 2005," includes a series of much-needed corrections to policies that have eroded FOIA.
Specifically, the act would ensure that requesters have timely information on the status of their requests, set enforceable time limits for agencies to respond to requests, implement news media status rules that recognize the reality of freelance journalists and the Internet, and provide strong incentives - including both carrots and sticks - for agency employees to improve FOIA compliance. The act also includes a review of the new exemption in the Homeland Security Act for critical infrastructure information.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/2005/01/012105.htmlSenator John Cornyn (R-TX) is emerging as a new congressional leader on freedom of information policy and openness in government.
A hardline conservative Republican, he is one of the few members of his party to explicitly identify public access to government information as a positive value. (Rep. Christopher Shays, a moderate House Republican, is another.) More often, openness seems to be viewed by Republicans as an unwelcome assault on executive authority, particularly in national security affairs.
"The cause of open government has been a top priority throughout my career in public service," wrote Sen. Cornyn, who was previously Attorney General in the State of Texas.
Two years ago, Sen. Cornyn helped broker an amendment to limit the scope of an exemption from the Freedom of Information Act that was sought by the National Security Agency (SN, 05/22/03). Last year, he was among those Senators who voted in favor of disclosing the annual intelligence budget total, a perennial proposal which serves as a threshold test of sanity on classification policy.
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