Openness is Inoperative -- Part 3

Last week, HR 4173, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, was proudly signed by the President:

I went to Wall Street and I called for common-sense reforms to protect consumers and our economy as a whole. And soon after taking office, I proposed a set of reforms to empower consumers and investors, to bring the shadowy deals that caused this crisis into the light of day, and to put a stop to taxpayer bailouts once and for all. Today, thanks to a lot of people in this room, those reforms will become the law of the land.

The new law is 2,074 pages long. Given that, one principal sponsor, Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, conceded "No one will know until this is actually in place how it works."

Dodd was right about that. This week, we learn that subsection 929I of the new law effectively exempts many Securities and Exchange Commission records from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

Immediately upon assuming office, President Obama declared that:

Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use.

Regarding this law in particular, President Obama claimed it would "increase transparency" in the financial sector. Apparently, he was just kidding.

(via Ed Morrissey, The Corner)