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Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2009

Floor Speech

Date: Jan. 7, 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Executive Branch


PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT AMENDMENTS OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - January 07, 2009)

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Madam Speaker, today, the House considers a bill that amends the Presidential Records Act. This important piece of bi-partisan legislation will help preserve open government, by reversing an executive order issued in the early days of the Bush administration that cut off access to Presidential records for historians and the American public.

Under that executive order, former Presidents and their heirs were given unprecedented authority to withhold or, indefinitely delay, access to documents from the public. And, for the first time, the order extended the authority to assert ``executive privilege'' to former Vice Presidents.

This legislation reverses that order by stating clearly that only current and former Presidents may assert "executive privilege.'' The bill also grants current Presidents discretion over whether to support a former President's assertion of privilege and places strict time limits for the current and former President to review records before they are released.

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