Republicans and Democrats may not see eye-to-eye on a lot things, but California Rep. Darrell Issa tells
Newsmax TV that transparency in government has no political affiliation.
"[Maryland Rep.] Elijah Cummings and I have both seen that the best way to get transparency is to have the American public at the table asking questions, particularly when it affects their own lives, and we've seen under both Republican and Democratic administrations a reluctance to do so and the need for reform," Issa said during a Wednesday appearance on "America’s Forum," where he discussed the FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2015, put forward by himself and Cummings to modernize the Freedom of Information Act.
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The bipartisan bill would make sure that if a court determines there's an unreasonable defense by the government for its refusal to release records, then the government would be compelled to reimburse the cost of seeking the records to the individual or organization asking for them.
"So, whether you're a small individual or the Associated Press or anyone in between, ACLU, you don't have to risk spending money when you know that all they're doing is forcing you to spend money in trying to discourage and delay your discovery," Issa explained.
"We think that's a very important provision because, as you know, it's hard to explain to the boss that you had to pay because you made a false defense, and that's going to make a difference both at the Cabinet level but also at the full presidential level. No president wants to hear that his defenses were frivolous and that he's being fined to the ACLU or the Associated Press or thousands of other plaintiffs who have been wrongfully denied the information they've asked for."
The modernized FOIA legislation would provide a "mechanism for people to get more often to the truth and hopefully get to it quicker," he added, noting that it’s not a fail-safe, but would be a vast improvement.
"If you have to go to court under this modernization, your government may pay for your fees necessary for you to get to the truth. Is it perfect? Of course not. Are there times in which the government has an absolute right to say we're not going to tell you who our CIA operatives in some country are? Of course. But we want those to be based on specific limitations that were in statutes. We're not changing the statute, we're not changing the reasons that the government may withhold certain information."
The Obama White House has come under fire for being the least transparent administration in history.
The Associated Press reported last week that for the second consecutive year, "the government took longer to turn over files when it provided any, said more regularly that it couldn't find documents, and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy."
Recent revelations that
former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a private server kept at her New York home instead of a government email account for all official business has shone another light on secrecy in the Obama administration.
Issa said he doesn’t anticipate the administration's trying to block the proposed legislation to update the FOIA.
"This president's in the final days of his presidency, 500 or so days left," he said. "The fact is this legislation is going to primarily affect the next president, and groups like the ACLU are telling Democrats, we need this legislation just as much as the National Rifle Association needs this.
"We need this so we can get to the truth about what government's doing to us. So, that's what makes it essentially bipartisan, and I'm confident we're going to get even a stronger bill this Congress than we did last Congress."
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