Open the Doors to Congress
From the Hawaii Reporter:
. . . A natural follow up question is, shouldn’t the Congress that is approving the Smithsonian’s budget also be subject to greater disclosure laws under FOIA? Because the Congress writes the laws, they conveniently left themselves (and the courts) out of FOIA and this recent bill.So if you want to find out what the research arm of Congress is digging up – tough luck. Or find out decision making records, congressional correspondence, accounting documents – no dice.
It took a lot of years (eleven) to get a FOIA bill passed in 1966. And it took a lot of public and media pressure to get President Johnson to sign the bill. Now the public needs to put that spotlight on Congress. . .