Effort to shield documents sparks transparency debate
By Geof Koss, E&E News May 10, 2017
Are House Republicans conspiring with the Trump administration to evade a key federal open-records law? Or is Congress simply reasserting a long-standing legal prerogative it says is essential to conducting oversight of the executive branch?
It depends on whom you ask.
Since January, congressional staffers say they've begun to notice distinct signatures on emails sent to federal agencies from House addresses, which in effect state that the contents of the messages are not considered "agency records" for purposes of compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
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