The Washington Post's Josh Hicks reports that a bill to reform the Freedom of Information Act is on track to be passed by Congress as long as House leaders put a bill passed by the Senate on the schedule; similar legislation was passed by the House several months ago: "Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who sponsored the House bill, urged their House colleagues to approve the Senate version and send it to the president. They said in a joint statement Tuesday that the measure would 'strengthen FOIA, the cornerstone of open-government law.'"
One of the key changes in the FOIA bill would limit exemption 5, which excludes from disclosure records because of attorney-client, attorney work product and deliberative process privileges. Open-government advocates say this exemption is abused by government agencies. Agencies would be required to release information after 25 years, Hicks reports.
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