Don't Release My Letters, House Chairman From Texas Tells Treasury and Other Agencies

WASHINGTON -- A Texas Republican is telling several federal agencies to withhold communications with his high-profile congressional committee from open records requests made by news outlets, watchdog groups and members of the public.Dallas Rep. Jeb Hensarling staked out that position last month in letters written to the U.S. Treasury Department and other agencies that are under the jurisdiction of his House Financial Services Committee, according to Buzzfeed News and the Associated Press.His argument is that documents or communications exchanged between the panel's members or staff and the agencies are congressional records that include "sensitive and confidential" details."Accordingly, the committee expects that the agency will decline to produce any such congressional records in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act or any other provision of law or agreement," Hensarling wrote in the letter to Treasury.  Continue reading...