[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 14, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S767-S768]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SUNSHINE WEEK

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to commemorate 
Sunshine Week. Sunshine Week coincides each year with March 16, one of 
our Founding Fathers' birthdays: James Madison. Madison is widely known 
as the father of open government.
  The sunshine I am talking about isn't the kind that helps the corn 
grow in Iowa. Sunshine Week is dedicated to promoting government 
accountability to the source from which all government derives its 
power: the people. Before joining the Supreme Court in 1916, Justice 
Louis Brandeis wrote: ``Sunlight is said to be the best of 
disinfectants: electric light the most efficient policeman.'' As a 
longtime champion for an open, accessible government, I speak today in 
support of those enduring principles.
  In great works of literature, readers often remember a novel's 
opening line even if they forget the rest. When one hears that line, it 
immediately calls to mind the entire book. Well the same is true of our 
Constitution, a document that both defines the powers of the

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Federal Government and, at the same time, carefully limits those 
powers.
  ``We The People.'' These are not the opening words of a novel, but 
they are just as memorable as the best opening lines in literature. 
These solemn words form the opening line of our framework of our 
government, the Constitution.
  This is not an accident. Our Founders and Framers made a conscious 
choice to open our sacred charter by calling to mind the source of all 
government powers, from local school boards to the deliberations of 
this Chamber: the people of our United States, as James Madison said, 
acting in their sovereign capacity. These are truths we must repeat 
often, so that we never forget them. The people in this framework are 
in control. To use the analogy of the sun, whatever promotes self-
governance, spoken of in our Declaration of Independence, is sunshine. 
Whatever hinders the people in their right to govern their communities 
is darkness.
  As the Federal Government has grown in size and scope, all too often 
bureaucrats prefer to live in the shadows of the bureaucracy. They 
forget that they are ultimately accountable to the people. Because of 
this, Congress has passed a series of laws requiring openness and 
accountability to citizens and taxpayers. Just like we need information 
from government agencies to decide how to cast many of our votes in 
Congress, so too do the American people need this information to 
fulfill their role, and to cast theirs.
  This week is meant to draw attention to this need for openness, 
especially the Freedom of Information Act, which requires government 
Agencies to produce documents enlightening citizens as to what Agencies 
are doing. There is also the inherent constitutional power that Members 
of Congress have to conduct oversight and launch investigations.
  Despite this framework of laws and the bedrock principles of our 
Constitution, Agencies day in and day out fight tooth and nail so they 
won't have to turn over records when people file Freedom of Information 
Act requests and even when Members of Congress make requests for 
information. The Freedom of Information Act is a key law for providing 
transparency in government. Exemptions that allow records to be 
withheld should only be used when necessary and not as an excuse to 
withhold potentially embarrassing information. Federal Agencies must 
also reverse the trend of ever-increasing FOIA backlogs.
  For example, according to annual FOIA reports, the Department of 
Homeland Security saw its FOIA backlog double at the end of fiscal year 
2022 from the previous fiscal year. They are not alone. The Justice 
Department, Defense Department, and State Department all saw increases 
in their FOIA backlogs from the prior year. Federal Agencies need to do 
better.
  I continue to work for laws that strengthen the Freedom of 
Information Act and other measures that will ensure the people's 
business is conducted in public, not in private. I am planning to 
reintroduce a bipartisan bill to ensure FOIA remains a useful public 
tool and to push back against recent case law that erodes greater 
transparency. This bill will restore pro-transparency principles and 
will make it crystal clear where Congress stands on the public's right 
to know what our government is doing.
  To mark ``Sunshine Week,'' I am also introducing the bipartisan 
Sunshine in the Courtroom Act, which would permit and encourage all 
Federal courts to welcome cameras into the courtroom. I am also 
cosponsoring, with Senator Durbin, a companion bill which would require 
the U.S. Supreme Court to televise the arguments heard before them. I 
thank my Senate colleagues who are joining me as cosponsors on these 
important pieces of legislation.
  I have supported the long overdue release of records on the 
assassination of President Kennedy. I support efforts and conduct 
oversight on a daily basis that bring information on our government's 
operation to the light of day. I have also long supported 
whistleblowers, who play a vital role in shining the light on waste, 
fraud, and abuse.
  By reintroducing the SEC Whistleblower Reform Act, I am working to 
ensure whistleblowers who report possible violations of our Federal 
securities laws are fully protected, whether they take their concerns 
to the SEC or to someone in their company. My office has worked with 
whistleblowers and groups protecting their rights for decades. It is an 
essential part of our work. As Agencies all too often resist turning 
over the information we need to do our jobs, whistleblowers fill that 
gap with firsthand accounts of potential wrongdoing. To those 
whistleblowers: You are true patriots.
  Corruption is a problem in our own government, but it is also a 
global problem. I support the rights of whistleblowers everywhere in 
their efforts to bring sunshine to corruption and aid people in their 
rightful quest to govern themselves.
  Finally, I have been a long-time supporter of the False Claims Act. 
Since 1986, when I led the effort to update the False Claims Act, that 
law has helped the government recover $72 billion in taxpayer money 
from fraud and likely saved billions more by deterring would be 
fraudsters. The False Claims Act is a tool by which we can--and must--
hold fraudsters accountable.
  That is why I also reintroduced the bipartisan Administrative False 
Claims Act again this Congress. That legislation raises the statutory 
ceiling on claims that can be handled with administrative procedures 
from $150,000 to $1 million, expands the number of Justice Department 
officials who can review these claims, and allows the government to 
recoup costs for investigating and prosecuting these frauds. The 
legislation makes pursuing fraudsters more efficient.
  We need to take all possible steps to let the sunshine in. If we do, 
we will have a better and more accountable government that serves the 
people as it should.

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