New Obama Regs Direct Agencies to Lie to the Public

[Dan W]

     New Obama Regs Direct Agencies to Lie to the Public

              Monday, 31 October 2011 12:13               

And more Representatives join call for Holder’s resignation

Remember this statement back in January of 2009:  “My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.”
That was the Barack Obama on the day he was inaugurated.

But now the President, who raised fraud to an art form, has issued a regulation under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) directing government agencies to lie to the public.

Buried in pages and pages of legalese, you find it in Section 16.6(f)(2):  An agency desiring to withhold certain sensitive records is directed to respond “as if the excluded records did not exist.”

Not, “you can’t have the records.”

Not, “we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of the records.”

Rather, the agency is directed to lie.

As reported by the Daily Caller last week:  “A proposed revision to Freedom of Information Act rules would allow federal agencies to lie to citizens and reporters seeking certain records, telling them the records don’t exist.”

We in the gun community have faced an analogous situation when Attorney General Eric Holder and other high Justice Department officials lied about their knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious -- and the department’s role in placing guns in the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

But even this falls short of a written regulation requiring bureaucrats to lie.  Why doesn’t it surprise us that the Obama Administration has come to this?

Under special procedures, Congress can disapprove of these regs during a 30-day period.  But under Chadha v. INS, Obama can veto this disapproval.

GOA thinks the better approach would be to add language to the upcoming Continuing Resolution which “defunds” the ability of the Administration to enforce this regulation.  (See the action item below.)

MORE CONGRESSMEN JOIN CALL FOR HOLDER’S RESIGNATION

Thank you so much for communicating with your Representatives last week in regard to Attorney General Eric Holder.  The day after we asked you to contact your Congressman, the number of Representatives calling for Holder’s resignation officially doubled.

And since then, the number of Congressmen calling for Holder’s ousting has more than doubled again -- the total number now reaching 17.  They are listening to you on Capitol Hill!

While Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) was the first congressman to issue this clarion call, the list of Republicans joining this choir now includes:

Gus Bilirakis (FL), Dan Burton (IN), Quico Canseco (TX), Blake Farenthold (TX), Trent Franks (AZ), Paul Gosar (AZ), Vicky Hartzler (MO), Tim Huelskamp (KS), Duncan Hunter (CA), Lynn Jenkins (KS), Raul Labrador (ID), John Mica (FL), Devin Nunes (CA), Mike Pompeo (KS), Dennis Ross (FL) and Allen West (FL).

If your Congressman is not listed above, please continue to urge your Representative to sign his or her name to this list.

ACTION:  Please urge your Congressman to support adding language to the upcoming Continuing Resolution which defunds the ability of the Administration to enforce the “government can lie to you” regulation.  Also, please urge him or her to call for Eric Holder’s resignation.

Click Here to Send Your Representative a prewritten email message
   

[bkoenig]

And we expected any better from an administration willing to see innocent people murdered to further a political agenda?

[Husker_Fan]

I just looked at the link, and the provision is pretty narrow and applies to foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, or active criminal investigations where the subject of the investigation is not aware of the investigation.  The statute also expressly states that it cannot be used to withhold information from Congress.