On April 13, Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced the House version of the Faster FOIA bill, H.R. 1620, which would establish a commission to report on delays in responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and recommend solutions. The Senate version, S. 589, also a bipartisan bill, passed favorably out of the Judiciary Committee on March 17. Both H.R. 1620 and S. 589 would create a 16-member Commission on Freedom of Information Act Processing Delays, which would study how to lessen delays in the FOIA process. Currently, federal agencies have 20 days to respond to a FOIA request, but backlogs contain requests that are decades old. Smith noted the importance of the bill, stating that "American citizens should have the opportunity to quickly and easily obtain information from the federal government." The bill was referred to the Committee on Government Reform. Smith and Sherman also introduced the OPEN Government Act in February, which contains several measures to strengthen FOIA. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Senate versions of both the Open Government Act (S. 394) and Faster FOIA bill. President Bush recently raised FOIA during a speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) on April 14. Bush discussed the need to balance public disclosure of information with security issues. "I know there is a tension now between making the decision of that which is -- that which can be exposed without jeopardizing the war on terror .... Right after September the 11th, I was fully aware that the farther we got away from September the 11th, the more likely it would be that people would forget the stakes. I wish I could report that all is well. It's not. It's just not. It's going to take a while." When asked specifically about the presumption of disclosure, and the time it takes agencies to respond to requests, Bush referenced the Cornyn legislation stating, "John Cornyn is a good friend, and we look forward to analyzing and working with legislation that will make -- it would hope -- put a free press's mind at ease that you're not being denied information you shouldn't [sic] see... I think that FOIA requests ought to be dealt with as expeditiously as possible."