PRESS STATEMENT
-For Immediate Release-
May 9, 2013

Contact: Brian Gumm, bgumm@foreffectivegov.org, 202-683-4812

Center for Effective Government Welcomes New Executive Order on Transparency

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2013— Today, President Obama signed an executive order on data and information transparency. Titled "Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information," the order was accompanied by an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo detailing the new policy and its implementation. The policy is intended to make public information more open and more easily accessible to the American people.

Sean Moulton, Director of Open Government Policy at the Center for Effective Government, made the following statement:

President Obama's executive order reaffirms the administration's commitment to transparency and lays a framework for agencies to improve public access to, and use of, government data. For too long, valuable public information has been locked away in file cabinets and poorly designed IT systems. Today's policy points a new way forward and takes concrete steps to make public information open by default. Properly implemented, this policy will allow Americans to know more about their government's activities and critical issues that affect their lives, including public health, safety, and the environment.

Access to this information is crucial to our democracy and the government's effectiveness. It allows Americans to actively engage in policymaking in a thoughtful, informed manner and to hold public officials accountable for decisions that impact us all.

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The Center for Effective Government is dedicated to building an open, accountable government that advances the priorities defined by an informed citizenry. Find the Center for Effective Government on Facebook and Twitter.