A bipartisan panel of House Republicans and Democrats introduced a bill April 11 to rescind President Bush’s executive order allowing incumbent or former presidents to withhold the release of their presidential papers. The legislation also sets a maximum 40-day time limit for a president or former president to claim a privilege for any records the national archivist decides to release.
The bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Stephen Horn (R-Calif.), said the order was a violation of “the letter and spirit” of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which called for the release of presidential papers 12 years after a president leaves office.
The Washington Post reported April 12 that 20 Democrats and two Republicans joined Horn as sponsors, including Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chair of the House Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.), the panel’s ranking Democrat. Waxman called the Bush order a “particularly objectionable” decision in a series of administration moves “undermining the public’s right to know.”
The public-interest group Public Citizen filed a lawsuit in November to block Bush’s action, and the American Library Association joined other groups in voicing “serious concerns” over the order.
Posted April 15, 2002.