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FOIA News: Legal status of the Smithsonian

WHY SENATOR GRASSLEY’S SMITHSONIAN FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) REFORM BILLS FAILED

By Julian Raven, EIN News, Aug. 18, 2022

On the floor of the Senate in 2007, Senator Grassley proclaimed that ‘Many people would naturally think that the Smithsonian is subject to FOIA (the Freedom of Information Act) and must comply with requests. I know that I believed it was, especially given that taxpayer funds make up 70 percent of its budget.” Grassley’s confession is the first step in admitting that there is a glaring problem with the Smithsonian Institution. That problem is a crisis of identity, a confusion as to what the Smithsonian Institution’s entity status is. As a result, a legal dilemma has been left untamed, bewitching even the esteemed Senator Grassley and others.

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