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Quigley Introduces Legislation to Make Release of White House Visitor Logs Mandatory

May 11, 2021

Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Transparency Caucus, introduced the Access to White House Visitor Logs Act, to require every administration to publicly release visitor logs from the White House or any location where presidents regularly conduct official business.

"This week, the White House reinstated the policy of publicly disclosing their visitor logs on a monthly basis after the Trump administration refused to do so. I am very encouraged to hear that the Biden Administration has returned to this policy and I look forward to working with the White House and my colleagues in Congress to pass the White House Visitor Logs Act, which would codify this policy into law," said Quigley. "If successful, having this policy signed into law would guarantee access for future administrations into visitors coming and going from the White House – and allow the public to fully regain their trust in our government."

First introduced in the 115th Congress as the MAR-A-LAGO Act in response to the Trump administration's refusal to extend the pro-transparency policy established by former President Barack Obama to release visitor logs at the White House 90 to 120 days after they were created, the Access to White House Visitor Logs Act requires the publication of White House visitor logs 90 days after their creation. This legislation will ensure that the American people have information about who has access to, and may be influencing, our nation's leaders, regardless of which party holds the White House. It would maintain similar exceptions for national security as the Obama administration's policy.