FBI wants less transparency

From Free Press:

The FBI is planning to take a big step backward for government transparency.

As of March 1, the agency will no longer accept Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests via email. Anyone seeking public records from the bureau will have to use a new online portal — or send requests via fax or snail mail.

Online FOIA portals may seem like a good idea in theory, but in reality, government agencies make them difficult and cumbersome to use and they include unnecessary hurdles.

Tell the FBI to keep accepting FOIA requests via email and cut out arbitrary restrictions.

The Freedom of Information Act gives us a legal right to request public records, which allow journalists and watchdogs to hold the government accountable. FOIA requests uncovered harmful covert operations like COINTELPRO — an FBI program with the goal of dismantling civil rights groups, among others — and also exposed government surveillance of Black Lives Matter activists. Given the Trump administration's hostile attitude toward the press and activists, we need our government to be more transparent, not less.

Our friends at MuckRock, who help journalists and others access public records, raised the alarm when the terms of service of the new FBI portal came to light. These include arbitrary restrictions that aren’t consistent with the law:

• Requests can’t be longer than 3,000 characters.
• Individuals aren’t eligible for the reduced fees available to media outlets, meaning that freelance journalists, and others, will have to pay extra when filing requests.
• Memos, emails, and other internal communications appear to be off-limits to requesters — a restriction that undermines government transparency.

While these terms of service might be improved going forward, the FBI has shown that it can and will arbitrarily change them without public comment.

Tell the FBI to keep its FOIA email up and running and to drop the arbitrary restrictions.

Freedom of information advocates have been fighting with the federal government over FOIA for a long time. And this isn’t the first time a government agency has spent taxpayer money to make public records less accessible.

Our federal government is harming so many communities — we need government transparency now more than ever.

Thanks for all that you do—

Fiona, Mike, Lucia and the rest of the Free Press team
freepress.net

P.S. Urge the FBI to make our government more transparent, not less.

Thank you!

We as a democratic republic cannot tolerate this. The government has to be transparent or the government will become tyrannical. That is why I am suggesting we also contact our Congressional Representative and our Senators and let them know about the FBI's conduct. The more of us they hear from the better.

Force the government to be accountable to the people

From Rand2016:

To me it's common sense: Members of Congress should actually read the bills before voting on them.

But in Washington, common sense is often flipped upside down on its head.

And the latest example is the 800-page Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) - President Barack Obama's secretive trade deal.

The deal's text is kept hidden in a secret room within the U.S. Capitol, unavailable to the American public.

I'm demanding Barack Obama release the final text of the trade deal IMMEDIATELY before final passage is voted on by Congress.

So please sign your "Read the Bills" petition urging members of Congress to demand the White House make the text of the secretive treaty available to the public before being voted on by Congress.

Currently, only members of Congress - and select staff - are allowed to read the deal's text. But we're not allowed to discuss or talk about the contents of the deal outside of the secret room.

And even though most of my colleagues in the Senate admitted they haven't read the text of the bill, many of them recently voted to fast-track it through the Senate.

I've got concerns about voting on any bill that's kept in secret and hidden from the American people.

That's why I'm counting on you to sign your "Read the Bills" petition immediately.

Unfortunately, this secretive deal highlights a problem that is all too common in Washington nowadays . . .

The bills are thousands of pages long, and they're often plopped on our desks a few hours before the vote takes place.

So no one actually reads them.

In fact, about a year ago, a 1,000-page was bill plopped on my desk with only TWO HOURS to read it before the vote took place.

Current Senate rules currently require 48 hours before voting on legislation.

But when I objected on the grounds of having only two hours to read 1,000 pages, my colleagues simply changed the rule and held the vote despite my objections.

And I'm sure you remember former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously stating, "We have to pass the bill [ObamaCare] so that you can find out what's in it."

I believe the American people deserve better.

That's why I've introduced the "Read the Bills Act" in the U.S. Senate.

If passed, my legislation would FORCE members of Congress to actually read the bills they vote on to stop the backroom deals where thousand page bills are rammed into law before anyone knows what's in them.

In fact, my bill requires the Senate to wait one day before a vote is held for every 20 pages of legislation.

That means 800-page legislation, like Obama's secret trade deal, would have to be made public 40 days before the vote takes place - giving Senators adequate time to actually read it.

If you believe members of Congress should read the bills before voting on them, please sign your "Read the Bills" petition immediately.

I'm the only Senator demanding the White House release the text of the trade bill.

And I'm counting on you to help provide the grassroots muscle to force the White House to publicly release the text of Obama's secret trade deal before the final votes take place.

So please sign your "Read the Bills" petition right away.

And after you sign, can I count on you to chip in $20.16 to help me rally the American people to demand Congress actually read the bills before voting on them?

Thank you in advance for your support.

In Liberty,

Rand Paul