Hawkeye Reporter

WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) introduced legislation to improve the public’s access to information and ability to hold the federal bureaucracy accountable.  

The Open and Responsive Government Act aims to restore an appropriate legal interpretation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Exemption 4 on confidential commercial information. The bill also reinforces the law’s presumptions of openness and transparency by underscoring any information outside of the scope of FOIA’s nine exemptions should be publicly available.  

“Transparency is the most fundamental oversight check on the government. Americans shouldn’t be in the dark when it comes to federal operations, and our legislation would shed more sunlight where we need it. This straightforward bill promotes transparency, particularly in response to new regulations and court rulings, and clarifies Congress’ intent in creating the FOIA – that the people have a right to know,” Grassley said.  

“Government works for the people so Americans have a right to know what it’s doing on their behalf. Our bill will improve transparency by eliminating unnecessary justifications for withholding information from the public,” Feinstein said.

“Transparency and accountability are cornerstones of our government,” Welch said. “To preserve American democracy for generations to come, we must continue to protect and expand Americans’ right to information about their government. This legislation would overturn an erroneous Supreme Court decision and restore the clear intent of FOIA. I’m proud to join my colleagues to introduce this important, bipartisan legislation to foster openness across our institutions.”

Grassley first introduced the Open and Responsive Government Act in 2019 following the Supreme Court’s decision in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media. For decades, FOIA Exemption 4, the “National Parks” standard, only allowed the government to withhold information from the public as “confidential” if its disclosure would cause “substantial competitive harm” to the providing party. However, the Supreme Court ruled such an interpretation was inconsistent with the text and structure of the law. This has made it more difficult for the media and the American people to learn about government programs and hold administrators responsible. The Open and Responsive Government Act rectifies this by updating FOIA Exemption 4 to include stronger accountability language.  

The legislation also codifies the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia holding in American Immigration Lawyers Association v. Executive Office for Immigration Review, as the case explicitly recognized FOIA’s nine exemptions as the only authorities under which agencies can redact information from otherwise responsive records. 

In addition to addressing various judicial branch actions, the Open and Responsive Government Act better defines regulatory guardrails for executive agencies. For example, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal under FOIA would make the record request process more cumbersome for individuals and weaken requirements of the EPA to fulfill the requests it receives. Consistent with the congressional intent of FOIA, the senators’ bill would ensure transparency and accountability are at the forefront of regulatory changes like these.  

The Open and Responsive Government Act is among many longstanding efforts by Grassley to bolster federal transparency, accountability and oversight. Most recently, Grassley reintroduced a bill last month to end the practice of establishing red tape without sufficient public notice or participation.  

Text of the Open and Responsive Government Act is available HERE.

Original source can be found here.