Via Secrecy News and Intel Daily.
An unidentified Republican Senator placed a secret hold on the Open Government Act, a bipartisan bill to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, thereby preventing the Senate from acting on the bill this week.
Senator Patrick Leahy, a cosponsor of the bill, made the following comments on May 24th:
Regrettably, an anonymous Republican hold is stalling this important Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, legislation, needlessly delaying long-overdue reforms to strengthen FOIA and to protect the public's right to know. It is both unfortunate and ironic that this bipartisan bill, which promotes sunshine and openness in our government, is being hindered by a secret and anonymous hold.
This is a good government bill that Democrats and Republicans alike, can and should work together to enact. I hope that the Senator placing the secret hold on this bill will come forward, so that we can resolve any legitimate concerns, and the full Senate can promptly act on this legislation.
This is a shame and the American people deserve to know which Republican Senator is responsible.
What can we do about it?
It is safe to assume that the Republican Senator who placed this secret hold was not one of the Republican Cosponsors, John Cornyn, Johnny Isakson and Arlen Specter. This leaves 46 Republican Senators who may be responsible. I've built a table below which lists these Senators and their phone numbers.
Inspired by a recent Sunlight Foundation Project, I've decided to leverage the dispersed knowledge of the Internet to determine which Senator placed this secret hold. The idea is simple: If you live in a state with a Republican Senator, call them and ask them if they were the one who placed the hold. The question you should ask is: "Did you place a secret hold on Senate Bill 849, the Open Government Act?"
Unfortunately, the Senate has just left for their week-long memorial day recess. You can make the calls now but it is important to call back on June 4th when the legislative session resumes. If you'd like to be reminded to make the call, send me an email at josh_nelson_513@yahoo.com and let me know which state you live in. I will then email you on the evening of June 3rd to remind you to make the call. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose.
Please leave a comment here and let us know who you have called and what response you get, if any. As the responses come in, I'll fill them in on this table so we know where everyone stands. We should be able to get to the bottom of this shortly. Please help us spread the word on this project so we can determine who is responsible as quickly as possible. I will be reposting this on June 4th, just wanted to get an early heads up out to those who are interested.
Unfortunately, the table is not loading properly on Daily Kos. You can see the original here.