The Department of Health and Human Services’ mass dismissals of workers who release government records “raise grave transparency, accountability, and privacy concerns,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said Thursday.
In a May 8 letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. provided exclusively to KFF Health News, Wyden, the top Democrat on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, wrote that “it is hard to square your commitment to radical transparency” with HHS’ firing of workers who handled Freedom of Information Act requests.
“It is essential that FOIA offices have the resources to disclose appropriate information to the public in response to records requests,” he wrote, noting that disclosures under federal law have “served as the basis for groundbreaking public reporting, litigation, and legislation” to improve government programs.
“During times of rapid changes to government agencies, citizen oversight is a cornerstone of a functioning democracy and these agencies must have adequate resources to respond fully to requests,” Wyden wrote.
FOIA is a transparency law that guarantees public access to the inner workings of federal agencies by requiring officials to release government records. The 1966 law is a crucial tool to hold officials accountable and uncover harm, corruption, and political meddling in policymaking.
Wyden is the latest lawmaker to protest the Trump administration’s firings of publ …