Public Law P.L. 89-487, re-enacted and codified by P.L. 90-23; amended many times since — FOIA §552(f)(1) — Congress is not an 'agency', enacted 1966-07-04. Every recorded vote below is cited to the official government record.
Congress wrote itself out of FOIA — the statute that forces executive agencies to hand over records on demand defines "agency" so that it does not include the Congress, so the body that writes the nation's disclosure law is the one body that law cannot be used against. Every amendment round since 1966 was a chance to fix it.
Enacted · in_force · The official record
| Section | What it does | Official text |
|---|---|---|
| 552(f)(1) | "For purposes of this section, the term 'agency' as defined in section 551(1) of this title includes any executive department, military department, Government corporation, Government controlled corporation, or other establishment in the executive branch of the Government (including the Executive Office of the President), or any independent regulatory agency." The enumeration is entirely executive-branch; nothing in it reaches the legislative branch. | The text |
| 551(1)(A) | Defines "agency" for title 5 as each authority of the Government of the United States, "but does not include — (A) the Congress". This is the operative exclusion; §552(f)(1) inherits it. | The text |