NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 13, #8; March 9, 2007)
1. TELL THE HOUSE TO PASS THE PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT REFORM BILL!
2. FOIA REFORM BILL CLEARED FOR HOUSE CONSIDERATION
3. PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY FUNDING DISCLOSURE BILL SET FOR HOUSE FLOOR
4. REGISTER NOW FOR "HUMANITIES ADVOCACY DAY" ON CAPITOL HILL
5. BITS & BYTES: National Archives to host preservation conference
6. ARTICLE OF INTEREST: "Historians Fight Bush on Access to Papers," 'New a
York Times', March 8, 2007
1. TELL THE HOUSE TO PASS THE PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT REFORM BILL!
On March 8, 2007, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee unanimously approved H.R. 1255, the "Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007." The bill is expected to go to the House floor the week of March 12.
The National Coalition for History is asking everyone in the historical and archival community to contact their House member as soon as possible and ask that they support H.R.1255.
Here is a link to the NCH's CapWiz legislative grassroots website. This website allows you to either send a pre-written electronic letter to your Member of Congress or to edit the letter we have prepared to express your own personal views.
http://www.humanitiesadvocacy.org/action_ctr.html
It is important that you act TODAY, since the bill will likely be considred next week!!
Here is a summary of the bill, as marked up by the committee:
Overturning the Bush Executive Order. Under the Presidential Records Act, presidential records are supposed to be released to historians and the public 12 years after the end of a presidential administration. In November 2001, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13233, which overturned an executive order issued by President Reagan and gave current and former presidents and vice presidents broad authority to withhold presidential records or delay their release indefinitely. The Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007 would nullify the Bush executive order and establish procedures to ensure the timely release of presidential records.
Establishing a Deadline for Review of Records. Under the Bush executive order, the Archivist must wait for both the current and former president to approve the release of presidential records, a review process that can continue indefinitely. Under the bill, the current and former president would have a set time period of no longer than 40 business days to raise objections to the release of these records by the Archivist.
Limiting the Authority of Former Presidents to Withhold Presidential Records. Under the Reagan executive order, a former president could request that the incumbent president assert a claim of executive privilege and thereby stop the release of the records. If the incumbent president decided not to assert executive privilege, however, the records would be released unless the former president could persuade a court to uphold the former president's assertion of the privilege. The Bush executive order reversed this process and required the incumbent president to sustain the executive privilege claim of the former president unless a person seeking access could persuade a court to reject the claim. In effect, the Bush order gave former presidents virtually unlimited authority to withhold presidential records through assertions of executive privilege. The legislation would restore the Reagan approach, giving the incumbent president the discretion to reject ill-founded assertions of executive privilege by former presidents.
Requiring the President to Make Privilege Claims Personally. Under the Bush executive order, designees of the former president could assert privilege claims after the death of the president, in effect making the right to assert executive privilege an asset of the former president's estate. The bill would make clear that the right to claim executive privilege is personal to current and former presidents and cannot be bequeathed to assistants, relatives, or descendants.
Eliminating Executive Privilege Claims for Vice Presidents. In an unprecedented step, the Bush executive order authorized former vice presidents to assert executive privilege claims over vice presidential records. The bill restores the long-standing understanding that the right to assert executive privilege over presidential records is a right held only by presidents.
During the markup, the Committee approved one amendment which would require the Archivist of the United States to deny access to original presidential records to any designated representative of a former president if the designee had been convicted of a crime relating to the review, retention, removal or destruction of records of the Archives. The amendment was inspired by the well-publicized theft of documents from the National Archives by President Clinton's former National Security Advisor Samuel R. (Sandy) Berger. On April 1, 2005, Berger pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of Unauthorized Removal and Retention of Classified Documents.
Last week we reported on the hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and the National Archives to consider presidential records. Four NCH member organizations testified at the hearing: Steven L. Hensen, Past President of the Society of American Archivists; Dr. Anna K. Nelson representing the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations; Tom Blanton of the National Security Archive; and Dr. Robert Dallek representing the American Historical Association. Also testifying was Scott Nelson of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, who is the counsel handling AHA's lawsuit in federal district court (American Historical Association, et. al., v. The National Archives). Copies of the testimony from that hearing is now available at: http://republicans.oversight.house.gov
2. FOIA REFORM BILL CLEARED FOR HOUSE CONSIDERATION
On March 8, 2007, the House Oversight and Government Relations Committee unanimously approved H.R. 1309, the "Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Amendments of 2007." This legislation contains numerous provisions that will increase public access to government information by strengthening the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). We expect the bill will be considered on the House floor next week in tandem with the Presidential Records Act Reform bill (H.R. 1255).
The bill would reaffirm the presumption that records should be released to the public if disclosure is allowable under law and the agency cannot reasonably foresee a harm from such a disclosure. This was the standard that was in effect during the Clinton administration. This provision would effectively rescind the "Ashcroft Memorandum" which was issued on October 12, 2001, in response to the 9-11 attacks and restore the "foreseeable harm" standard. The Aschroft FOIA Memorandum established a "sound legal basis" standard. Under this standard, agencies are required to reach the judgment that their use of a FOIA exemption is on sound footing, both factually and legally, whenever they withhold requested information.
The bill also puts teeth into the requirement that agencies respond to FOIA requests within 20 days. H.R. 1309 makes this deadline meaningful by ensuring that the 20-day statutory clock runs immediately upon an agency's receipt of a request and by imposing consequences on federal agencies for missing the deadline. The bill also requires agencies to provide requesters with individualized tracking numbers for each request and access to a telephone or internet hotline with information about the status of requests.
The bill strengthens agency reporting requirements to identify excessive delays and requires each agency to make the raw data used to compile its annual reports publicly available. The bill also requires the Government Accountability Office to report annually on the Department of Homeland Security's use of the broad disclosure exemption for "critical infrastructure information."
H.R. 1309 creates a new FOIA ombudsman to help FOIA requesters resolve problems without having to resort to litigation. The FOIA ombudsman will be located at the National Archives and will help requesters by providing informal guidance and nonbinding opinions regarding rejected or delayed FOIA requests. The FOIA ombudsman will also review agency compliance with FOIA.
H.R. 1309 makes it more feasible for citizen groups to challenge the improper withholding of government information by expanding access to attorneys' fees for FOIA requesters who successfully challenge an agency's denial of information. The bill also holds agencies accountable for their decisions by enhancing the authority of the Office of Special Counsel to take disciplinary action against government officials who arbitrarily and capriciously deny disclosure.
At the markup, the Committee also adopted an amendment offered by Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) that would require agencies to provide reasons for each redaction in documents that are released in response to a FOIA request.
3. PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY FUNDING DISCLOSURE BILL SET FOR HOUSE FLOOR
On March 8, 2007, the House Oversight and Government Relations Committee unanimously approved H.R. 1254, the "Presidential Donation Reform Act of 2007." The bill will likely be considered on the House floor along with the two bills noted above.
Presidential libraries are built using private funds raised by an organization or foundation working on behalf of the president. Under current law, donations for the presidential library can be unlimited in size and are not required to be disclosed. The bill would require that all organizations established for the purpose of raising funds for presidential libraries or their related facilities report on a quarterly basis all contributions of $200 or more.
Organizations that raise funds for presidential libraries typically begin fundraising while the president remains in office. Before the library is turned over to the National Archives, these organizations must raise enough money to build the library and to provide the Archivist with an endowment for the maintenance of the facility. Under the legislation, organizations fundraising for presidential libraries would be required to disclose their donations while the president is in office and during the period before the federal government has taken possession of the library. The bill sets a minimum reporting period of four years after the end of a president's term.
Under the bill, presidential library fundraising organizations would be required to disclose to Congress and the Archivist the amount and date of each contribution, the name of the contributor, and if the contributor is an individual, the occupation of the contributor. The National Archives would be required to make the information available to the public through a free, searchable, and downloadable database on the internet.
One of the concerns the bill is designed to remedy is the fact that foreign nationals can make unlimited contributions to a sitting, or former, president's library foundation. This is in contrast to federal election laws which prohibit contributions by foreign nationals.
An amendment offered by Ranking Minority Member Tom Davis (R-VA), that would have made the law applicable to presidents after President George W. Bush, was defeated.
4. REGISTER NOW FOR "HUMANITIES ADVOCACY DAY" ON CAPITOL HILL
The National Humanities Alliance (NHA) will hold its 2007 conference March 26-27 in Washington DC. The two-day event is a unique meeting ground for members of the Alliance and others interested in humanities policy and advocacy, including higher education leaders, college and university faculty, teachers, museum professionals, librarians, archivists, curators, and independent scholars.
More information and online registration is available at: http://www.nhalliance.org
The opening session on March 26 features a luncheon and keynote address by Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States. During the afternoon, Congressional staff and leaders in the field will outline changes in the new 110th Congress, and brief participants on the status of significant policy and funding issues for the humanities community in 2007. Later, "Advocacy Guru" Stephanie Vance will lead a session on effective strategies for communication with elected officials.
All registered participants are encouraged to take part in Humanities Advocacy Day on March 27. The event provides supporters an important opportunity to meet with their representatives in the new Congress, and to work together to communicate the public value of the humanities to policymakers in Washington, DC. Conference activities will be capped by a reception on Capitol Hill featuring exhibits of federally supported humanities projects from around the country.
5. BITS & BYTES: National Archives to host Preservation Conference
The National Archives will host a two-day preservation conference entitled "Managing the Intangible: Creating, Storing and Retrieving Digital Surrogates of Historical Materials," on Monday, April 30, and Tuesday, May 1, 2007. Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein will provide opening remarks for the event, which will be held at The Inn and Conference Center by Marriott at the University of Maryland's University College in Adelphi, Maryland.
"Managing the Intangible" will give attendees an opportunity to participate in a comprehensive discussion on the essential components of the digital preservation reformatting process at the project or program level. "Managing the Intangible" will benefit individuals and institutions that are contemplating entering, or have just entered the digital arena by providing a forum to examine the reformatting process in its entirety, rather than a single administrative or technical element of the process. It will benefit those involved with any and all media types, with emphases on audio, video, photography, motion pictures, and microfilm reformatting
The fee for the two-day conference is $275 ($175 for full-time students). For details, registration forms, and information on lodging and transport, go to the Preservation Conference web page at:
6. ARTICLE OF INTEREST: "Historians Fight Bush on Access to Papers," 'New York Times', March 8, 2007, A timely discussion of the attempts by historians to fight the Bush Executive Order limiting access to presidential records that was the subject of the legislation passed this week and discussed above.