RE: Support S. 589, the Cornyn/Leahy Faster FOIA Act of 2005
Dear Senator:
On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union and its more than 400,000 members, we urge you to support and co-sponsor S. 589, the Faster FOIA Act of 2005, sponsored by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and to vote for S. 589 should it come to the Senate floor.
FOIA was passed nearly 40 years ago to give the American people a statutory right to access information freely about their government. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed that the just power of government derives ""from the consent of the governed,"" but it took nearly 200 years for federal law to recognize that this consent must be informed in order to be meaningful. The Supreme Court has made clear that ""disclosure, not secrecy, is the dominant objective"" of FOIA. Department of the Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352 (1976).
S. 589 is a modest bill that will establish a bipartisan commission of experts to recommend ways to reduce processing delays in the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The ACLU can attest that lengthy processing delays for FOIA requests are a serious problem and undermine public confidence. Timely answers to FOIA inquiries would help build public confidence in the openness of government. We urge the Senate to enact S. 589, and - more importantly - to act promptly on any substantive recommendations to speed FOIA process that the commission recommends.
Thank you for your consideration of our views.
Sincerely,
Gregory T. Nojeim
Acting Director
Washington Legislative Office
Timothy H. Edgar
National Security Policy Counsel
Lisa Graves
Senior Counsel for Legislative Strategy