“House of Cards” was a television show that tantalized audiences with clever ways for government officials to operate in the shadows to get things done. While this works well for television, this approach to governance is terrible in the real world.
Unfortunately, as recent revelations from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have shown, operating in the shadows has become commonplace. Thankfully, DOGE is shining a light on them.
This is where DOGE will play an integral role in returning the government to “We, the People,” not the unelected bureaucrats hiding within the federal government. And DOGE is doing work exposing where our taxpayer money has been headed and, in several cases, where we didn’t know it was going.
A recent news story revealed that DOGE had recovered $1.9 billion of taxpayer money that had been “misplaced,” according to the agency. We can expect to see more revelations like this in the future.
While this is fantastic progress, building a foundation of honesty and transparency in government will be a long and difficult process. The first step can be accomplished by reforming the Freedom of Information Act.
FOIA was game-changing legislation desperately needed in America when it became law in 1966. Over time, bugs have become apparent, leading to several generations of amendments.
FOIA was enacted despite opposition from President Lyndon B. Johnson. Perhaps illustrating why FOIA was needed, Johnson focused on the law’s exemptions.
Amendments have been made since, sometimes adding timeframes, sanctions for noncompliance, fee waivers for journalists, changes to account for the rise of the internet and computers, and to account for intelligence and security. The last amendment, in 2016, created a “presumption of disclosure,” but the presumption did not lead to greater transparency.
FOIA still has problems that allow the federal government to weasel out of its congressionally charged duties, even concerning the stewardship of taxpayer dollars. A July 2023 report found that the federal government habitually drags its feet with FOIA requests, with response time being 41 days — nearly double the 20-day maximum response time. Such delays are often accomplished through the government manipulating statutory exemptions to withhold requested information from the public, making proper oversight even more difficult.
One example is when the government refused to turn over recordings of Joe Biden’s classified documents case interview to Congress, for which then-Attorney General Merrick Garland was held in contempt of Congress. If the government wouldn’t do it for Congress, why would it do it for the taxpayer who elects them?
Still, several potential solutions exist to dislodge the FOIA boulder obstructing oversight of the federal government. One such method is for Congress to identify certain records to be included within FOIA’s scope. These include administrative records, calendars, ethics reports and settlement agreements. While these items should already be accessible by FOIA, they often are not provided. Explicitly stating the everyday items withheld could force the agencies’ hands.
Expansion of oversight means nothing without teeth to back it up, and “We the People” deserve to have sharp teeth to keep the government accountable. This can be accomplished through simple reforms. Penalties for noncompliance and missing deadlines would incentivize agencies to take FOIA requests seriously.
Requiring agencies to fight their FOIA lawsuits, instead of handing the litigation off to the Department of Justice, would also force them to weigh the costs of noncompliance instead of their “out of sight, out of mind” attitude.
It is understood that some of these reforms may not fit high-frequency requests for issues like immigration or entities like the Department of Defense. For this reason, those outlier agencies should have their own tailored processes for FOIA requests. Finally, all agencies should be required to follow precedent from previous requests to maintain consistency in the application of the law.
Other reforms may be necessary. These are simple and common-sense solutions to increase government accountability and citizens’ oversight, and they can be done quickly. With continued revelations of how the federal government is spending our money and the rampant waste we have seen through government carte blanche spending, these reforms can help ensure proper stewardship of Americans’ taxpayer dollars.
