Bipartisan letter seeks answers on open government failures

From Bloomberg Businessweek:

A U.S. House panel has asked the Justice Department to explain why agencies have not implemented President Barack Obama’s 2009 pledge to make government more transparent by releasing records requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

Representative Darrell Issa, the California Republican who is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Maryland Representative Elijah Cummings, the panel’s top Democrat, asked Justice to explain why many agencies haven’t followed an order to update procedures for complying with the open-records law.

The letter seeking an explanation was sent to the Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy, which oversees government compliance with FOIA and provides legal advice on requests for records.