Congress pushes Obama to keep transparency promise

By Washington Examiner

Published June 15, 2016 4:01am ET

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Congress pushes Obama to keep transparency promise — Perhaps Obama is unaware of what it has done in his name, but his administration has broken his promise of transparency. (AP Photo) | Cliff Owen

Congress has passed a new bipartisan Freedom of Information law that finally codifies the presumption that all government materials should be available to the public unless there are good, specific reasons why they shouldn’t.

President Obama encouraged federal agencies to adopt this presumption when he arrived in office in 2009. But putting the principle into law has been tricky, in no small part because Obama’s practice has been nearly the opposite of his promise.

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Barack Obama Commentary Congress Department of Justice Editorials Freedom of Information Act Minusextra Transparency Washington Examiner