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              Bush signs the Open Government Act in semi-secrecy
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008
George Bush has signed into law S. 2488, a bill that strengthens the Freedom of Information Act. There are a lot of signs that Bush did not much like this Open Government Act, so it’s significant that he didn’t veto it. What are the signs of Bush’s displeasure? For one thing, the WH published a description of the new law that is terse and, rather glaringly, excludes most of its more important provisions. You’ll find these spelled out in some detail in the CRS summary of the bill. As a point of comparison, let’s look at which elements the Associated Press chose to include in its summary of the legislation. According to AP, the new law:
By contrast, the published WH summary mentions only that the law “amends (FOIA) by…”:
You’ll note that there’s barely any overlap between the elements that the AP and the White House highlight. Furthermore the four elements listed by the WH say virtually nothing about the need or the mechanisms for greater openness – the very goal of the legislation.
As the AP describes it:
Even if the Open Government Act is not a cure for all of FOIA’s ills, it is a highly symbolic piece of legislation. And it’s hard to ignore the symbolism of the manner in which Bush signed it into law – on New Year’s Eve, without comment. It was almost as if Bush wanted to avoid drawing attention to a victory for government transparency. http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/1/2/9486/36922 Have Your Say: Bush signs the Open Government Act in semi-secrecy Please read our posting guidelines before posting. Alternatively you can discuss this report here. Related News
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