Reaction Of Senator Patrick Leahy
To The President’s FOIA Executive Order
December 14, 2005

I welcome the President’s initiative because it will foster better compliance and signal to federal agencies that the President recognizes that the government needs to upgrade its performance in implementing FOIA.  The Executive Order has the potential to improve agency handling of FOIA requests, including better customer service.  In these ways it encompasses the spirit of some of the measures that Senator John Cornyn and I included in our comprehensive legislation, the Open Government Act, and in the bill we introduced to analyze the sources of processing delays, the Faster FOIA Act.  The Executive Order also includes some useful reform and reporting measures. 

I appreciate that most FOIA officers do their best to process requests efficiently, but lengthy delays and significant backlogs have persisted at many agencies.  The changes mandated by the Executive Order may help, but they only require agencies to look within.  Input from FOIA requestors is also necessary in aggressively reducing agency delay.  That is the approach that I have taken with Senator Cornyn in our legislation. 

The Executive Order is a constructive step, but it is not the comprehensive reforms we need.  The Open Government Act takes a much more forceful approach to reforming FOIA implementation.  The Act underscores FOIA’s presumption of openness and that effective government depends more than on the need to know – it depends on the fundamental right to know.  Our bill would strengthen FOIA and close loopholes, put teeth in the statutory deadlines for agency responses, and provide FOIA officials with all of the tools they need to ensure that our government remains open and accessible.

I welcome the President’s statement, but we can do better. 

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