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The Information and Access Program focuses on defending and advancing the public's right to know. Unfortunately access to government information is under near constant attack. This program tracks and analyzes policies that affect the public's right to know and works to improve them. Our goal is to increase the quality of, access to, and use of government information.

Information & Access News for 2005. For news from previous years, see the Archive.

News

White House Climate Change Policy -- Delay, Delete, and Deny 07/22/2008
The Bush administration continues its strong efforts to censor climate change information that reaches the public and Congress. Recent reports indicate that the White House pressured the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make changes to its regulatory process regarding climate change and that Vice President Dick Cheney's office was responsible for suppressing key sections of the congressional testimony of a high-level official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Read More

EPA and Union Agree on Process for Reopening Libraries 07/22/2008
In response to a federal arbitrator's decision in February, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) establishing procedures for the reopening of recently closed EPA libraries and bringing the union to the planning table for any future changes to the library network. Read More

House Decides Saving E-mails is a Good Thing 07/22/2008
The White House has threatened to veto an already weak bill targeted at preserving electronic records, despite legal action and recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the need for such accountability. On July 9, the House passed the Electronic Communications Preservation Act (H.R. 5811) by a veto-proof margin of 286-137. While targeted at the White House, this legislation will have an impact throughout executive branch agencies. Read More

Senate Vote on FISA Compromise Expected 07/08/2008
Now back from the July 4 recess, the Senate is expected to quickly take up the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) compromise passed by the House in June, with a vote as early as July 9. Despite opposition to the compromise legislation, particularly from civil libertarians, and a recent court ruling that cast doubt on the main arguments for granting immunity to telecommunications companies, the legislation is considered likely to pass. Read More

FOIA Another Year Older, but Still Not Much Wiser 07/08/2008
July 4 marked the 42nd anniversary of Congress' passage of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a report showing improvements in how the law is being implemented, including a reduction in backlogs of FOIA requests at agencies. Other reports, however, paint a much starker picture where backlogs continue to remain high (despite a one-year modest drop) and where the full granting of FOIA requests has dropped to the lowest level since records have been kept. Read More

House Caves on Telecom Immunity in FISA Bill 06/24/2008
After months of negotiations and stalled efforts, the House leadership reached common ground with the White House in passing a bill that reforms the legality of foreign surveillance and grants telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for assisting in warrantless wiretapping. On June 20, the House passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R. 6304) by a vote of 293 to 129. Despite opposition from key senators and the public interest community, at this point it appears likely to pass the Senate as well. Read More

House Considers New Legislation at Chemical Security Hearing 06/24/2008
On June 12, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials held a hearing on the current status of the chemical security program at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and considered two bills to amend the program. Read More

Improving Information Sharing at DHS 06/24/2008
On June 11, the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment held a hearing on a bill (H.R. 6193) introduced by Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), chair of the subcommittee, to improve information sharing at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Read More

Obama and Coburn Shine Brighter Light on Government Spending 06/10/2008
Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) have joined forces again to craft legislation that would increase the transparency of how the federal government spends taxpayers' money. The Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act (S. 3077), introduced June 3, is a follow-up to the 2006 Transparency Act, which was also spearheaded by the two senators. Obama and Coburn, along with Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and John McCain (R-AZ), introduced the new legislation with the goals of making important new data easily accessible and enabling citizens to hold our government accountable for the fiscal stewardship of our shared resources. Read More

Covering Up Mistakes of Torture and Rendition 06/10/2008
The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released a report that investigated the case of a Canadian citizen, Maher Arar, who was taken into U.S. custody in 2002 and removed to Syria, where he was held by authorities for fourteen months. Two House committees held a hearing June 5 on allegations of torture that Arar says occurred during his imprisonment. Read More

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