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U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) went on FOX Business yesterday to address her concerns that the financial reform bill would exempt Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents from “virtually all” Freedom of Information Act requests, which the agency denies.
Bachmann called the changes she sees in the bill a “gross distortion” of government transparency:
“Now their powers have been enhanced, but it’s almost like a blanket put over the SEC because the public will now be prohibited from getting its eyes on documents.”
But even the FOX anchor pointed out that the section of the bill to which Bachmann is referring has no mention of FOIA requests, and that the agency says exemptions will only impact proprietary or sensitive trading data.
Today, SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro responded on the issue to both Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd, saying it covers sensitive information that’s currently difficult for the agency to access.
“This provision does not provide a “blanket” SEC exemption from FOIA and is not designed to protect the SEC as an agency from public oversight and accountability. Instead, Section 9291 is meant to ensure that the Commission can gather the information it needs to perform its required examination, enforcement and oversight duties, including proprietary and customer information.”
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6 Comments »
Comment posted July 30, 2010 @ 10:23 pm
Bachmann is a serial liar whose comments can never be taken at face value. She has no clue about what she is talking about but she plows ahead with reckless statements about the truth. Bachmann can only be appealing to a constituency of “low information voters” who don’t know that the SEC’s role is to enforce honest and truthful corporate disclosures. Anyone with a passing familiarity of the SEC’s role would know that only those things that corporations designate as “confidential” or “trade secrets” are not subject to FOIA disclosure. One can take issue with the fact that what corporations designate as “confidential” or “trade secrets” is too broad, but the fact remains it is not the SEC but private corporations which exercise this right (of privacy).
Bachmann used this tactic with the Health Care Bill too, claiming that p. 69 of the bill took away people’s ability to keep their own insurance plans. A complete and utter lie. There was no such provision on page 69 or any other page in the 1000+ page bill. I went through this huge bill and never found anything remotely related to what she was claiming. Because it was a lie.
Michele Bachmann is complete lunatic and loose cannon who does no credit to anyone, not even herself.
Comment posted July 31, 2010 @ 7:23 pm
And they say you just can’t make this sh1t up…
Hiring quotas?
Litigation on small businesses?
And the private sector still has no part in causing the recession.
I wonder what color the sky is in Conservatopia.
Comment posted August 2, 2010 @ 12:32 pm
This sounds like when the end of life counseling funding was twisted into death panels. I don’t think Bachmann is capable of coming up with this stuff herself. I would bet it was already a GOBP talking point or a talk radio myth she picked up.
Comment posted August 2, 2010 @ 3:09 pm
You’ll have to believe in God and yourself before you’ll understand Michele… Word!
Comment posted August 2, 2010 @ 10:03 pm
No, I checked this out in today’s WSJ. Michelle is right. She’s a lawyer. You need to study FOIA litigation, I did, because I had to get documents for an EEOC Charge. FOIA already supplies any grounds that SEC needs, it covers all government agencies. The provision in the financial regulation law, which should be removed, is broader, because it includes for instance the ground of “oversight.” So what information wouldn’t be gathered for “oversight?” Before you just attack her, try to figure out what she’s talking about please.
Comment posted August 3, 2010 @ 2:13 pm
Don’t care what shes talking about the woman is a nutcase. Even if I was a republican I would not vote for because every time she opens her mouth she says something else completely stupid.
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