FOIA Requests Are Up In Trump Era, But Parties Disagree on Whether That’s Good

By Charles S. Clark, Gov’t Exec., Mar. 13, 2019

Three key players in the governmentwide effort to improve Freedom of Information Act responsiveness were summoned to a House hearing on Wednesday of the annual Sunshine Week.

Though all agreed that outsider requests have shot up since President Trump took office, Republicans and Democrats pressed differing priorities for use of what both consider a valuable tool of transparency.

Their questions to witnesses from the FOIA office at the Justice Department, Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency showed that one lawmaker’s pursuit of accountability is another lawmaker’s politics.

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