The Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 21 approved the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National (OPEN) Government Act (S. 394), a promising development for open government advocates. The bill, sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), would remove hurdles to obtaining information from federal agencies under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

High on Congress' agenda this week is legislation to authorize the National Security Agency's (NSA) Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP). In the Senate, Judiciary Committee Chair Arlen Specter (R-PA) brokered a hollow compromise with moderate Republicans on the National Security Surveillance Act (S. 2453), increasing the likelihood of its passage. In the House, Rep. Heather Wilson's (R-NM) Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act (H.R. 5825) passed out of committee and is likely to see a floor vote this week. Both bills would legalize the warrantless surveillance program and provide exceptions to the judicial approval required by the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The House and Senate are nearing a vote on legislation to authorize a new federal agency, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The agency would oversee "advanced research and development" of countermeasures to bioterrorism threats, epidemics, and pandemics, and would have broad authority to exempt information from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).