[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 17, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1665-S1666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRANSPARENCY AND SUNSHINE WEEK

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, this week we celebrate Sunshine Week, not 
as a seasonal way to welcome the spring weather but as a time to mark 
the importance of transparency in our government.
  At the U.S. Helsinki Commission we monitor 56 countries, including 
the United States, to ensure compliance with human rights and other 
commitments made under the Helsinki Final Act.
  A major part of that compliance rests on governments being open and 
acting transparently--the same focus that is at the heart of the 
American Society of Newspaper Editors' Sunshine Week.
  Practicing open governance is not something countries, States, and 
cities should do because they have to comply with some international 
agreement or public records law; rather, being transparent should be an 
organic part of providing a democratic government and empowering 
citizens.
  When President Obama began his Presidency he called for unprecedented 
transparency. In his Open Government Directive, he outlined a clear 
plan for government to become more transparent, participatory, and 
collaborative.
  The logic is clear--only through transparency can people gain the 
knowledge needed to participate and hold their governments accountable. 
And only if the people participate can government collaborate with them 
to glean the best ideas.
  This directive was bold and action-oriented, but sadly we have not 
seen the U.S. bureaucracy react with the same swiftness with which this 
directive was made. Most agencies, in fact, have not made concrete 
changes to comply with the directive, according to a government-wide 
audit released earlier this week by the National Security Archive based 
at the George Washington University.
  It seems for all the White House is doing disclosing its visitors 
log, broadcasting policy meetings, increasing interactivity through 
townhall meetings and YouTube interviews--a lot of work remains at the 
agencies.
  Most glaring to me are the delays and in some cases outright denials 
of Freedom of Information Act requests. I was surprised to learn in the 
National Security Archive audit that some requests have been pending 
for 18 years when the law very clearly calls for responses within 20 
business days when possible.
  Most baffling from the audit may be what files still remain locked in 
government vaults. For example, today--more than 20 years after the 
fall of the Berlin Wall--the Pentagon still has not responded to a 
request for records detailing the military's reaction in 1961 to the 
building of the wall.
  When it comes to diplomacy, this President and Secretary of State 
Clinton deserve great praise for the work they have done around the 
world to strengthen dialogue and improve U.S. relationships abroad. 
This successful record, however, is slightly tarnished by the 
Department of State's efforts on open governance. The Department more 
than doubled the number of denials it issued to people filing Freedom 
of

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Information Act requests last year--the largest increase of any agency 
except for the Social Security Administration, which tripled its 
denials.
  Fourteen months is a short time to change a bureaucracy charged with 
managing countless records. But a handful of agencies have already 
shown it is possible and committed to open government changes. On top 
of other positive reforms, the Departments of Agriculture and Justice, 
the Small Business Administration, and the Office of Management and 
Budget all increased how much information they released and decreased 
how many requests they denied last year. These agencies have embraced 
the spirit of transparency ushered in by President Obama, and as we 
mark Sunshine Week, I hope others will follow suit with their own 
innovative ways to increase transparency and spur citizen involvement. 
And once agencies adopt these practices, I hope they stick with them--
not because they fulfill any Presidential directive but because they 
give us a better democracy.

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