The House of Representatives on March 14, 2007, passed a bill (H.R. 1309) intended to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by giving those requesting information new tools to prompt government action and imposing consequences on agencies that miss deadlines. The Senate Judiciary Committee on April 12, 2007, approved The Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act (OPEN Government Act) (S. 849) to update and strengthen FOIA.

Among other changes to FOIA, both the Senate and the House bills would expand the ability to obtain reimbursement of attorney fees when challenging agency denials in court. The bills would also clarify that the 20-day statutory clock for agencies to respond to requests begins to run immediately upon an agency's receipt of a request. The measures also require agencies to give requesters tracking numbers and access to a telephone or Internet hotline to obtain information about the status of their requests.

In addition, the legislation establishes a new position for a FOIA ombudsman to aid requesters and mediate disputes. In the House bill, the ombudsman would be located at the National Archives and Records Administration. The Senate bill would house the ombudsman at the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), a small agency that Congress eliminated in the mid-1990s. The previous Congress re-authorized ACUS, which sought to improve government administrative practices, but ACUS has not received funding and effectively remains defunct.