Blog
Urgent action needed today on FOIA bill!
- By: ASNE staff
- On: 12/10/2014 13:30:46
- In: FOI
We need your voice TODAY to achieve reforms to the federal FOIA because S 2520, which passed the Senate on Monday, is not put on the House calendar, yet, and the House of Representatives could adjourn for the year as early as Thursday (tomorrow).
Contact House leadership directly via phone calls, Twitter (you can direct tweets to @SpeakerBoehner, @GOPLeader, @NancyPelosi, @WhipHoyer) and through your publications.
The product of months of work, S 2520 (the FOIA Improvement Act), passed the Senate on Monday after Sen. Jay Rockefeller was the last member of the Senate to remove his objections and drop his hold on the bill. This cleared the way for passage by unanimous consent. However, even though the House of Representatives had itself passed -- by a unanimous vote -- even broader legislation last year, House leadership has not put S 2520 on the House calendar. The House of Representatives could adjourn for the year as early as Thursday (tomorrow), which means we would have to start anew in 2015.
We don't want that -- we want these reforms enacted now!
ASNE hopes that its members will support our efforts and those of many others to get this legislation enacted. Please make your feelings known in any way possible: Contact your representative and ask him or her to let House leadership know that it should schedule a floor vote on S 2520. Better yet, contact leadership directly via phone calls, Twitter (you can direct tweets to @SpeakerBoehner, @GOPLeader, @NancyPelosi, @WhipHoyer) and, yes, through your publications.
Here are some helpful resources on S 2520:
- From ASNE:
From Aug. 21 (during August recess)
From Sept. 20 (upon return from August recess and in anticipation of possible Senate Judiciary vote)
From Oct. 28 (letter to White House in support of many issues addressed by S 2520)
From Nov. 20 (passage of S 2520 by Senate Judiciary Committee)
From last night (Senate Passage of S 2520)
- From the Sunshine In Government Initiative (ASNE is a member of this organization):
- From OpentheGovernment.org (ASNE is a coalition partner of Openthegovernment.org and represented on the organization's Steering Committee by our legal counsel):
You can also contact ASNE Legal Counsel Kevin M. Goldberg at 703-812-0462 or goldberg@fhhlaw.com if you need any further information.