Closed to the Public

[Geee]

American Spectator:

 

It was bad enough for the Obama administration to earn an overall grade of C-minus on its level of transparency from the independent watchdog group Cause of Action. When coupled with evidence of what is being hidden, the information makes the administration look even worse.

Cause of Action uses requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), lawsuits, and other tools to expose what it calls “job-killing federal government regulations, waste, fraud, and cronyism.” As has been reported by Caroline May at the Daily Caller and others, the organization last week issued a report called “Grading the Government,” assessing the responsiveness of 114 offices, within 16 federal departments or agencies, to FOIA requests regarding how those offices spend tax money on “promotional items” used variously as gifts, awards, or travel mementos.

FOIA laws, which are mandatory upon federal agencies, allow 20 working days from receipt of the request to production of the requested information (with obvious exceptions for certain categories such as classified information or information specifically claimed as exempt due “executive privilege”), with an allowance for the agency to receive an extension of another 21-30 working days. If an agency takes an extension, it must provide appropriate notice thereof to the requesting individual or entity.

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Groups looking into carbon taxes and climate change efforts are being stonewalled all the time on FOIA requests.