Reducing Information Control Designations Act

REDUCING INFORMATION CONTROL DESIGNATIONS ACT -- (House of Representatives - July 29, 2008)

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, in recent years, we've seen an exponential growth in the number and types of non-classified information control designations. These designations carry little, if any, statutory authority, and no Federal entity is monitoring their use. So there is a need for some legislative control over the creation and use of those vague designations. H.R. 6576 attempts to achieve that goal.

This legislation makes it clear Congress intends agencies to limit the use of information control designations, so that government-wide information-sharing is increased and information is more available to the public.

One important component to this legislation is it creates a government-wide solution to this problem, as opposed to allowing each agency to create its own rules for how these designations are handled.

For too long, Federal departments have insisted on treating information they develop as their information. To protect their information, agencies have imposed a variety of sanctions on employees. The net effect of this hyper-protectiveness has been to create an environment where everyone knew something, but no one knew everything.

In May of this year, the President issued a memo establishing new procedures designating the National Archives as responsible for overseeing and managing the implementation of the controlled unclassified information framework.

Our intent with this legislation, for the most part, is to codify the processes laid out in that memo so future administrations cannot roll back these modernizing procedures. The proliferation of ``sensitive but unclassified'' and ``for official use only'' designations is clogging the arteries meant to take critical information to Federal, State and local agencies, and the public.

This legislation instructs the Archivist to establish regulations regarding the use of information control designations, with an emphasis on minimizing agency use, and establishes a process allowing the public to review these documents at the appropriate time.

One section which deviates from the President's plan is a section which would provide an incentive for employees to challenge control designations and be rewarded for succeeding in these challenges.

Upon reflection, I'm concerned this creates the wrong incentive. Are we putting employee personal gain at odds with agency security?

And, how would this system actually work? Who will make awards decisions? When is such a challenge eligible for an award? I expect we will need to clarify this system before the bill becomes law.

On the whole, I am satisfied this legislation will go a long way toward clarifying what types of control designations may be used and when they are not appropriate.

Mr. Speaker, as the security needs of our country change, we need to adjust with them. Our future safety depends on moving from a need-to-know culture to a need-to-share culture.

This legislation will help us reach that goal, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, this is an important bill and it should pass. However, we should be dealing with what is most on the minds of Americans today, the high cost of gasoline brought on since the Democrats gained control of the Congress.

Poll after poll underscores the American people's strong support for increased American energy production to help bring down gas prices. And an increasing number of rank-and-file Democrats in Congress are listening to them and calling for a vote on more environmentally safe oil and gas drilling here at home.

We know that at least two House Democrats have spoken up about this issue and are asking the Democratic leadership to call for more drilling to help lower gas prices, and I want to quote from two of them. It's in Congressional Quarterly, 7/28/08, by Subcommittee Chairman PETER VISCLOSKY: ``We ought to have a vote in the House of Representatives about it,'' meaning lower gas prices.

Representative TIM HOLDEN from Pennsylvania has said: ``Drill everywhere ..... I'm for off-shore (oil) drilling. It needs to be part of a multi-pronged approach.'' This appeared in the Pottsville Republican Herald, 7/28/08.

So how does Speaker Pelosi respond to these ever-intensifying calls for more American energy? She calls it a hoax, and I want to quote from a press release from the Leader's office. In an appearance this morning on NBC's Today show, Speaker Pelosi coldly dismissed the views held by a solid majority of the American people, not to mention a bipartisan majority in Congress, saying, ``It's really a hoax. It's really a hoax on the American people.''

This is just the latest illustration of how out of touch the Speaker and her colleagues in the Democratic leadership are with American families and
small businesses who are being pummeled day in and day out by soaring energy prices.

So, Mr. Speaker, I support the passage of this bill, but I call on the Speaker and the Democratic leadership to bring for a vote bills, among them the American Energy Act introduced last week by the House Republicans, to explore for more oil and to lower the cost of energy in this country.

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