From Center for Effective Government:
A recent letter from Congress to the Justice Department represents a positive development toward strengthening the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The letter, sent Feb. 4 by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asks what steps the government is taking on a number of key transparency improvements.The reforms, if implemented, could significantly improve the public's access to information about critical topics such as food safety, compliance with environmental standards, and special interest influence in government decision making.The letter, signed by committee chair Darrell Issa (R-CA) and ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-MD), indicates a bipartisan approach to congressional oversight of the executive branch's responsibilities to be transparent under FOIA.
To learn more about the issue and reactions, please see a previous blog post from the National Security Archive, and another article from Bloomberg Businessweek.