Committee approves bills to ease flow of information

By Otto Kreisher CongressDaily July 24, 2008 The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee unanimously approved two bills Wednesday that are intended to make it harder for federal agencies to withhold information from other agencies, lawmakers and the public. The bills, sponsored by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and ranking member Tom Davis, R-Va., would limit use of designations such as "sensitive but unclassified" or "for official use only" and would try to prevent agencies from overclassifying documents. Both bills would empower the head of the National Archives to draft regulations to control use of classification or the other restrictive designations, encourage federal employees to challenge overly restrictive actions and provide penalties for government officials... [read full story]