[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 30 (Thursday, March 4, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  OPEN AND TRANSPARENT SMITHSONIAN ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 4, 2010

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today I introduce the Open and Transparent 
Smithsonian Act to further ensure that the Smithsonian Institution is 
accountable to the public for the taxpayer funds it receives. This bill 
provides that, for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act, 
FOIA, and the Privacy Act, the Smithsonian shall be considered a 
federal agency.
  This bill was introduced in the Senate in 2008, and I saw it then and 
now as complementing my Smithsonian Modernization Act and my 
Smithsonian Free Admission Act. I introduce this bill today along with 
the other two because its purpose, like those, is to make the 
Smithsonian accountable for the 70 percent of its funding that comes 
from annual federal appropriations. Although the Smithsonian was 
created by Congress as a federal trust, it receives the great majority 
of its funding from the federal government, much like federal agencies, 
and had always been treated as a federal agency. However, in the 1990s, 
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found 
that the Smithsonian is not a federal agency for purposes of FOIA and 
the Privacy Act. Indeed, the Smithsonian's website clearly states that 
it is ``not an Executive Branch agency, and FOIA does not apply to the 
Smithsonian.''
  The lack of transparency is of great concern, particularly in light 
of the Smithsonian's recent history of secrecy and corruption. In 2007, 
an independent review committee found that the Smithsonian Board had 
violated many principles of good management during the tenure of 
Lawrence Small as Secretary of the Smithsonian. The report indicated 
that the Board had failed to provide desperately needed oversight, had 
overcompensated the Secretary, and had allowed the creation of an 
``insular culture.'' The report further found that the Smithsonian's 
deputy secretary and chief operating officer had frequent absences from 
her duties because of outside activities, including service on 
corporate boards, for which she earned more than $1.2 million in six 
years. Importantly, the report indicated that Smithsonian leaders took 
great measures to keep secret these missteps and mismanagements.
  While the Smithsonian now has new leadership that is moving away from 
the mistakes of the past, its transparency should not depend on who is 
in charge. A federally supported entity must be accountable to the 
American people. The American people have a right to know that their 
interests are being served.
  I urge my colleagues to support this measure.

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