Members of Congress also wait on FOIA requests

[babylonsister]

Members of Congress also wait on FOIA requests
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2007-11-13 22:53. Congress

By Dan Friedman, CongressDaily


When 51 Democrats wrote the Pentagon in 2005 seeking information related to Britain's Downing Street memo on U.S. planning for the Iraq War, the signatories -- representing almost one-eighth of the House -- might have demanded deference.

But the members, led by then-House Judiciary ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., sent their letter as a Freedom of Information Act request, accepting the legal standing of ordinary citizens.

The usually assertive Conyers recognized their minority status and a 23-year-old Justice Department policy instructing federal agencies to treat queries from members or staffers not acting through committee chairmen as FOIAs. Agencies can choose to act faster, but often do not.

That their document demands are treated like an average person's is accepted by many members. But it galls both old hands who cite days of a more powerful legislature and some newcomers.

"I'm a freshman, but I still thought that was beyond the level of a lack of respect that a member of Congress should be treated with," said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., who said a query he made in January about Blackwater USA was processed by the Pentagon as a FOIA and ignored by the State Department.

Now in control of Congress, Democrats have begun taking issue with the FOIA policy.

"A growing number of members are fighting back," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit watchdog group that offers bipartisan training sessions to staffers on how to monitor federal agencies and programs.

more...

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/28681

[stillcool]

1. There ought to be a law...

I guess the executive is the only branch that gets to make laws these days.

[babylonsister]

2. It sure is hard to keep track of all the things that should be illegal

with this motley crew.