As
we reflect on our history this Presidents' Day, it is hard to ignore
one serious problem: the Bush Administration has blocked access to the
very records needed to understand that history!
We have been working to expose President Bush's secrets, but now just
one senator is standing in the way. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is
blocking a bill that would return presidential records to the American
people.
Sessions must be stopped. He is standing between the public and its right to know about the government!
In 2001, President Bush issued an Executive Order that gives current
and previous presidents the power to withhold their documents and
records INDEFINITELY. What's more, the order extends this extraordinary
authority to
presidential family members and even vice presidents.
Bush's
order was a direct attack on the Presidential Records Act of 1978, a
law passed in the wake of Watergate that makes presidential records the
property of the American people. Presidents should not be allowed to
flout open-government laws and lock away their records with a stroke of
a pen.
But this is not just about Bush. It's about the records of ALL presidents.
Right now, the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007, a bipartisan bill to undo the Bush order, is close to becoming a law, but it is being blocked by Senator Jeff Sessions.
Take Action NOW: Contact your senators and ask how they can allow a colleague to block this important bill.
This Presidents' Day, it's time to lift the veil of secrecy the now
covers the White House. The president's business is our business. We
have a right to see the records from this administration - -and all
presidential administrations.
Thanks,
Daniel De Bonis
Online Organizer
Public Citizen's Congress Watch Division
[email protected]