Letters

Groups Support House Passage of FOIA Bill

More than two dozen organizations (including OpenTheGovernment.org) joined the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) in supporting passage of H.R. 1211, a bill to improve the government's processing of requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The House is expected to vote on the bill tomorrow afternoon (February 25). Click on "read more" to see the letter, and the signatories.

02/24/2014

The Time is Ripe for Increased Access to Congressional Mandated Reports

Twenty organizations dedicated to transparency and accountability called on Congress to consider the bipartisan Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act (H.R. 1380). The legislation would require any congressionally mandated report that is releasable under the Freedom of Information Act be made available online by the Government Printing Office. The common-sense legislation would create one central and searchable repository for the reports, which are currently difficult to find.

02/18/2014

Groups Ask House to Vote on Bill to Make Presidential Library Fundraising More Transparent

On February 6, more than 20 groups joined to urge the House Leadership to schedule time to debate and vote on H.R. 1133, the Presidential Library Donation Reform Act.

Currently, presidents raise funds privately to establish their presidential libraries. As these efforts often begin well before they leave office, and the system is completely unregulated and undisclosed, the fund-raising creates opportunities for, or the appearance of, influence-peddling.

02/07/2014

Right to Know Preserved in Final Version of Farm Bill

After months of conference negotiations, the Farm Bill has moved forward without the provisions that would have cut of public access to information about agricultural and livestock information. The language, originally in the House-passed bill, would have prohibited disclosure of information about any owner, operator, or employee of an agricultural or livestock operation. The public, particularly the neighbors of these operations, require access to information about the operations to ensure their health and safety.

01/30/2014

House Passes Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014

On January 14th, the House of Representatives unanimously passed the key amendments to the Presidential Records Act and Federal Records Act. The legislation (H.R.

01/21/2014

Calling for Vote on PCLOB Confirmation

OpenTheGovernment.org joined the Constitution Project to urge the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to invoke cloture and confirm Judge Patricia Wald before Congress' December recess. If Judge Wald's confirmation is delayed, she will be forced to step down, unbalancing the PCLOB at a critical moment for the board. Read the letter here.

12/23/2013

54 Groups Oppose the FISA Improvements Act

Good government, civil liberties, and openness groups called upon Congress to oppose S.1631, the FISA Improvements Act. As the letter states succinctly, "The FISA Improvements Act does not offer real reform to stop the NSA’s mass collection of our communications and communications records. Instead, S.

12/18/2013

National Coalition for History and Partners on Preservation of ODNI OSC

OpenTheGovernment.org and several partners joined the National Coalition for History in asking DNI General James Clapper to continue providing information to the World News Connection. The World News Connection serves as the public's portal to unclassified and uncopyrighted collections of articles, summaries, radio broadcasts, and more collected by the Open Source Center. Read the letter here.

12/18/2013

Partners Join CREW in support of the DATA Act

More than twenty groups, including OpenTheGovernment.org, joined the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) in support of the DATA Act’s efforts to make more government spending information open and public.

11/12/2013

Farm Bill Poses Threat to Right to Know

On November 6, more than 40 organizations joined OpenTheGovernment.org in urging members of the conference committee on the Farm Bill not to include language that cuts off public access to a broad swatch of information about agricultural and livestock operations.

11/06/2013

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