President Obama vowed his administration would be the most transparent ever.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, head of the Judisary Committee, has joined with ranking Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy to demand a full cost accounting of the money taxpayers are being forced to spend on the federal government’s denial of Freedom of Information Act requests.
The letter to the Government Accountability Office requesting the study comes as various federal agencies, with increasing frequency, have denied FOIA requests and subsequently, ended up in costly court battles with those who sought the documents.
“Withholding information from the public unless sued undermines the very spirit of FOIA and wastes significant taxpayer money in the processs,” the senators wrote to Gene Dodaro, the U.S. comptroller general, the Hill reported.
The Obama administration in particular has faced aggressive cricitisms from the media, with members labeling this White House the most secretive in memory and accusing agencies of going out of their way to avoid providing and fulfilling FOIA requests. The White House, meanwhile, continues to push the mantra that stretches all the way to President Obama’s first presidential term campaign days – that openness and transparency are core areas of his concern.
An Associated Press report a few weeks ago revealed the government cited exemptions to deny FOIA documents more than a half million times in 2014, a record high level. The same study also found the government actually admitted wrongfully withholding the requested information in roughly one of three cases, the Hill reported.
Federal agencies are already tasked with keeping track of costs to fulfill FOIA requests. But there is no mandate these agencies have to record the costs of denying – including the costs borne by taxpayers to fight off FOIA requests in court.
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2015/05/23/foia-suits-vs-feds-costing-taxpayers-big-bucks/
from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/foia-suits-vs-feds-costing-taxpayers-big-bucks/
No comments:
Post a Comment