Posted on 12/12/2014 9:33:07 AM PST by apoliticalone
After passing the Senate by unanimous consent on Monday, it seemed as if the FOIA Improvement Act would become lawa nearly identical version passed the House earlier this year. Today, however, it was up to Speaker of the House John Boehner to allow a vote on the bills final passage before the House adjourned this week. Instead, it was held at the desk, meaning Boehner may have just killed FOIA reform.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a law, signed in 1966, that gives U.S. citizens the right to access information from the federal government. Through FOIA, journalists and citizens alike have uncovered stories like the U.S. government turning down hundreds of millions of dollars in Katrina aid, the Pentagon ignoring a tip alleging 135 cases of fraud amounting to nearly $200 million, shortages in funding hampering cleanup at hazardous waste sites and 17,000 bridges failing to be inspected on schedule, to name a few.
It is an uniquely American act, but it is a tool that needs to be continually sharpened, says Nate Jones, the Freedom of Information Act Coordinator at the George Washington University's National Security Archive. The government is pretty good at giving information to people it wants to give, but the Freedom of Information Act is really a gem that allows the public to have a fighting chance to get the information from the government that they want.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.
The EXEMPT Prince: "Like you, I told you I would have more flexibility after the Election.
ALL of our secrets will remain that way with me, my most beloved King."
Boehner has been compromised.
Put out the illusion it’s all Boehner’s fault...the easily led short attention span crowd will eat it up...
Welcome to the worlds biggest con-game.
Is someone else Speaker of the House?
Much as we might wish it...
Here let me fix it.
“...for this legislative session.”
There, that’s better.
He is a drunkard couldn’t have been to hard to do.
Women, men, children animals who knows nothing would surprise me anymore.
“... He obviously doesn’t work for honest government or the people. It’s a club and the doors are kept sealed to those who pay the bills.”
I believe it is time we the people kicked those doors open, don’t you?
He is paid big donations by those who control the banking system via the Federal Reserve. Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are big contributor; Sen.Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi Cruz, is a vice president of Goldman Sachs. We should be very careful who we believe, or trust, in Congress. One of the few I do trust is Sen.Jeff Sessions.
“A September 2010 New York Times story said Boehner was “Tightly Bound to Lobbyists” and “He maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nations biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R.J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS.”. (Lipton, Eric (September 11, 2010). “A G.O.P. Leader Tightly Bound to Lobbyists”. New York Times.)”
Some others he accepts contributions from: AT&T, First Energy, Sallie Mae, Paulson & Co., American Electric Power, Moore Capital Management, Swisher International Group, Cantor Fitzgerald, Goldman Sachs, Chicago Mercantile Exchange. (The New Yorker, June 8, 2013).
Yes, it’s a club, an exclusive club.
On a positive note, our government is very transparent now! We can clearly see the tyranny.
He's a dangerous phony, every bit as bad as Obama, Pelosi, and Reid.
How are they able to kill a bill that was already passed and rewrite bills that were already passed too.
This does not sound very democratic
By tabling the bill until the new Congress is sworn in less a month from now, the Republicans can beef up the bill and make it even more pro-openness and pro-disclosure.
One thing is certain, in the new Senate, it’s not gonna matter what the commie Leaky Leahy wants. Maybe that’s why he’s whining about it now as if Boehner just shot his dog.
Or he is truly one of the fellow travelers.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely
Boehner looks like a pimp in that pic.
Who knew the Republican Party had its own Harry Reid?
Remind me why the GOPe reelected this fool to be speaker.
The GOP keeps putting leftist in charge....??
GOP voters are perplexed...
Shazzam...
There may have been a worse Republican Speaker, but I sure can’t think of one.
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