U.S. Steps Away from Open Government Partnership It Co-Founded
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a letter submitted to the Open Government Partnership (OGP) on January 15th and released to the public this week, the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the international transparency collaboration, which the U.S. helped launch in 2011. Public Citizen previously joined partner organizations to urge OGP to ensure the U.S. was hewing to OGP transparency expectations for partner nations.
Susan Harley, managing director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, released the following statement:
“In a brazen, if implicit, acknowledgement of its current lack of transparency, the U.S. government has turned its back on the global open government collaboration entity it helped create. While not surprising, given the U.S. was already not meeting the principles required of participating nations, it serves as yet another example of how the corrupt Trump administration is surrendering adherence to democratic norms like ensuring our government does not operate behind closed doors.”