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Waxman to stir debate with transparency subcommittee

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has created a new subcommittee that will tackle decisions made by the Bush administration regarding which government records should be made available to the public.

Waxman has not released his committee’s agenda for this year, and his panel has yet to organize formally, but his plan to create a subcommittee devoted to government transparency foreshadows what is expected to be a contentious debate with the administration over executive branch documents.
“We have legislative jurisdiction over [the Freedom of Information Act] and some of the other issues that relate to openness in government,” Waxman said yesterday.

While former Republican Committee Chairman Dan Burton (R-Ind.) battled the Bush administration in its first term over access to records, the recent GOP chairman, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), largely let the issue drop.
But by creating a new Information Policy, Census and National Archives Committee, Waxman has signaled that he intends to prioritize allowing public access to the inner workings of the administration.

Waxman also plans to form four other new subcommittees by merging and dividing the seven subpanels that existed under Republican control of Government Reform.
They will be called National Security and International Relations; Domestic Policy; Federal Workforce, Post Office and the District of Columbia; and Government Management, Organization and Procurement.

“We’re going to go to five committees and somewhat more equalize the jurisdiction so each subcommittee is a substantial subcommittee in terms of what it has to do,” Waxman said.

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