Government’s Backlog of FOIA Requests Grows

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The federal government continues to fall further behind in getting information to people seeking public records under the Freedom of Information Act. The backlog of FOIA requests at 13 Cabinet-level departments and at 9 of the largest agencies rose to 31 percent in 2005. The previous year, those same departments and agencies had a 20 per cent backlog. Other data in a study by the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government indicates that requesters had to wait longer to get information and that the government denied more requests.( 6/30/06)