Norton Bill to Increase Transparency and Accountability at the Smithsonian Institution to Be Marked-Up at OGR Business Meeting, Wednesday

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that her bill to subject the Smithsonian Institution to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Sunshine Act, and the Privacy Act will be marked up in a business meeting of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (OGR) tomorrow, Wednesday, November 16, 2016, at 9:00 a.m., in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building. Norton said that her bill, the Open and Transparent Smithsonian Act of 2015 (H.R. 3387), would ensure that the Smithsonian is accountable to the public, whose taxpayer funds it receives. Norton expressed her gratitude to OGR Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) for adding her bill to the scheduled markup.

“The Smithsonian Institution receives 70 percent of its budget from federal taxpayers, which says enough about why its operations and deliberations should be available to the public,” Norton said. “FOIA requirements are followed by all federal agencies to promote open and democratic access to information. The Smithsonian’s funding makes fiction of any claim not to be a federal agency. Particularly given the Smithsonian’s history of secrecy and corruption from a decade ago, Congress should ensure that the Smithsonian is as transparent as any agency that depends on federal funding.”

As part of her broader efforts to reform the Smithsonian, Norton has also introduced a bill, the Smithsonian Modernization Act (H.R. 3169), to strengthen both the Smithsonian’s fundraising capacity and governance. The Smithsonian has launched several crowdfunding campaigns in order to fund projects to preserve and display historical items of national importance, including Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit and Dorothy's ruby red slippers from “The Wizard of Oz.”