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FOIA budget sign-on letter going outfrom OpenTheGovernment.org
Worse than what we were warned last week, the proposed budget from the Bush Administration seeks to repeal Section 10 (Section H in the US Code text) of the OPEN Government Act and relocate the newly-established Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to the Department of Justice. Buried in the appendix under "Department of Commerce", Section 519, as proposed, says, "The Department of Justice shall carry out the responsibilities of the office established in 5 U.S.C. 552(h), from amounts made available in the Department of Justice appropriation for 'General Administration Salaries and Expenses'. In addition, subsection (h) of section 552 of title 5, United States Code, is hereby repealed, and subsections (i) through (l) are redesignated as (h) through (k)." A .pdf of that page of the budget is available; it's from the 1,314-page appendix (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/appendix.html) to the main budget (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/budget.html) (note: both links are to the tables of contents, rather than the actual budget documents). Thus, we will be sending our sign-on letter to highlight for congressional appropriators the Executive Branch's attempt to re-write the law—signed only five weeks ago by the President. Join us in sending a message to Congress to fund the Office of Government Information Services as mandated in the legislation and, thus, respect the policy objectives that earned wide bipartisan support in both Houses of Congress for improving FOIA. Our deadline is Tuesday, Feb. 5, 5 PM Eastern—email me (cgreen@openthegovernment.org) to sign on.
Read the entire letter here from OpenTheGovernment.org. |
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