Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman, urged the U.S. Senate last week to approve a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reform bill that passed the House of Representatives in Feburary.
The FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2014 is a measure that would allow easier public access to information from the federal government. The bipartisan measure was introduced by Issa and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member of the Oversight Committee. It passed the House by a unanimous vote on Feb. 25. The Senate passed a FOIA improvement bill, but it was not taken up by the House.
“As someone who supported both the House and Senate versions of FOIA reform, I’m disappointed that the House ran out of time to address concerns in the Senate bill and the Senate declined to approve a House-passed version, which had only minimal differences,” Issa said. “The reality is that, even today, the Senate could still send a bipartisan FOIA bill to the president if (lawmakers) were willing to accept some minimal differences.”
One notable difference between the two versions is that the House version stipulates the creation and maintenance of a central website to handle requests that would be under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). It also stipulates other responsibilities for the OMB.