Chairman Issa: Senate Can Still Act on Bipartisan FOIA Reform Passed by House

Today, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., called on the Senate to pass and send H.R. 1211, the FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2014, to the President for his signature. After introduction by Chairman Issa and Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., H.R. 1211 unanimously passed the House 410-0 on February 25th, 2014. As companion legislation to the Senate-passed FOIA Improvement Act, which was not taken up by the House, H.R. 1211 will enhance public access to federal government information by improving the responsiveness of federal agencies to FOIA requests.

“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,” said Chairman Issa.  “The reality is that, even today, the Senate could still send a bipartisan FOIA bill to the President if they were willing to accept some minimal differences.”