FOIA Progress

The Senate joined the House Friday in trying to put get the federal government to comply with deadlines for filing Freedom of Information Requests. 

I hope it works, but I’m not holding my breath until the next ream of redacted e-mails is delivered. Various government departments have been failing to meet the current 20-day response time for such requests by, oh, 19 years or so. And you wonder why some journalists are suspicious of their sausage-making factory in Washington?

The bill, which was opposed by the Bush administration, would exact some penalty for failure to comply, which is a step in the right direction.

Bloggers and freelancers also got a shot in the online arm from the bill, which includes them in the definition of journalists covered under the FOIA protections.

Now bloggers and freelancers will have an equal opportunity to complain when the FOIA requests still aren’t responded to in a timely fashion. Just kidding, I hope.