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Hearing Hearing Date: June 2, 2015 2:00 pm 2154 Rayburn House Office Building

Ensuring Transparency through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Subject
Ensuring Transparency through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
Date
June 2, 2015
Time
2:00 pm
Place
2154 Rayburn House Office Building
Full Committee on Oversight and Accountability

HEARING PURPOSE:

  • To examine the use of FOIA requests as a tool for government transparency and explore barriers to accessing public documents from the user’s perspective. The Committee will hear from witnesses that use FOIA in news reporting, academic research, and to conduct government oversight.

HEARING BACKGROUND:

  • Enacted in 1966, FOIA is a transparency tool for individuals to ensure government accountability. Under FOIA, requesters may ask federal agencies for information about any matter. An agency has 20 business days to respond to a request (and an additional ten days for unusual circumstances) and must release non-exempt records to the requester.
  • In Fiscal Year 2014, the federal government received 714,231 FOIA requests. The backlog of FOIA cases that had not been processed within the statutory time limit increased by 67 percent to a total of 159,741 backlogged cases.
Witnesses and testimonies: Sharyl Attkisson

Investigative Reporter

Panel I
Document

Jason Leopold

Investigative Reporter
Vice News
Panel I
Document

David E. McCraw

VP Assistant General Counsel
New York Times
Panel I
Document

Leah Goodman

Investigative Reporter
Newsweek
Panel I
Document

Terry Anderson

Adjunct Professor
University of Florida
Panel I
Document

Tom Fitton

President
Judicial Watch
Panel II
Document

Cleta Mitchell

Partner
Foley & Lardner LLP
Panel II
Document

Nate Jones

Director of the Freedom of Information Act Project
National Security Archive
Panel II
Document

Lisette Garcia


FOIA Resource Center
Panel II
Document

Gabriel Rottman

Legislative Counsel/Policy Advisor
American Civil Liberties Union
Panel II
Document

Anne Weismann

Executive Director
Campaign for Accountability
Panel II
Document

Related Documents
Name Document
Chairman Chaffetz Opening Statement Document
FOIA Memo Document
White House Counsel Memo Document
Transcript Document