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Obama says will release visitor names

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-04 23:42

US President Barack Obama walks through the Colonnade to make remarks on preparedness and response efforts surrounding the 2009 H1N1 flu virus in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, September 1, 2009. [Agencies]

WASHINGTON: In a shift in policy, President Barack Obama said on Friday his White House will release the names of most visitors to satisfy watchdog groups who demanded to know which lobbyists might be attempting to influence policy.

Obama's White House until now had followed the same practice of past presidents of generally keeping the names of White House visitors secret.

This practice over the years has prompted lawsuits by organizations who wanted to know who was meeting with the president and White House officials to determine whether lobbyists were influencing the development of policy on such issues as healthcare and energy.

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"For the first time in history, records of White House visitors will be made available to the public on an ongoing basis," Obama said in a written statement.

He added, "Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process."

Under the new policy, each month records of White House visitors from the previous 90 to 120 days will be made available online. Tens of thousands of people visit the White House each month.

The new policy will not include "a small group of appointments that cannot be disclosed because of national security imperatives or their necessarily confidential nature (such as a visit by a possible Supreme Court nominee)," the White House said.

A watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington had filed four lawsuits seeking visitor names.

The White House statement announcing the new policy included a statement from CREW approving of the new position.

"Providing public access to visitor records is an important step in restoring transparency and accountability to our government," said CREW executive director Melanie Sloan.