We're getting word (from here, among various other places) that the widely supported FOIA Improvement Act — which is staring down the clock of death in the House — has inspired a flood of last-second lobbying by anonymous banking interests. Wait, what?
The bipartisan FOIA reform bill that a coalition of civil society and Hill allies (including Sunlight) have been laboring over and negotiating for months – and which passed the Senate unanimously in the nick of time this week – is now suffering under the misperceptions of bankers that don't want open government to get anywhere near their interests.
Truth is, they are wrong. But even if they weren't, they were asleep at the wheel. This language has been in the bill, without controversy, for many months. The presumption of openness that they're worried about has been in this bill since June ("(8)(A)"). Continue>>>
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