All federal agencies are required to affirmatively and continuously disclose records described by subsection (a)(2) of the FOIA, which applies to four categories of agency records that must routinely be made "available for public inspection and copying." Congressional Correspondence logs for the U.S. Census Bureau falls under the category of records disclosed in response to a FOIA request "the agency determines have become or are likely to become the subject of subsequent requests for substantially the same records."

Congressional Correspondence for the U.S. Census Bureau is handled through the Office of Congressional and Intergovernment Affairs (OCIA). Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding Census Bureau Congressional Correspondence logs and records are handled through the Policy Coordination Office’s FOIA Office. FOIA staff are responsible for reviewing, coordinating, and responding to incoming requests to the Census Bureau that ask for logs and correspondence under the FOIA. On a quarterly basis, the FOIA Office will furnish a report to the public listing Congressional correspondence received by the Census Bureau during the quarter. This report will include the correspondence control number, member of congress, and the subject and the incoming date of the correspondence.

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552 (b), some correspondence records or parts of the records may be protected from disclosure by any of the nine exemptions specified by FOIA. The exemptions most often used in the Census Bureau Congressional Correspondence logs are FOIA Exemption 3, 5 U.S.C. § 552 (b)(3), and FOIA Exemption 6, 5 U.S.C. § 552 (b)(6). Exemption 3 exempts from disclosure records that are made confidential by statute, with Title 13, United States Code generally the applicable statute. Exemption 6 protects from disclosure of information about individuals, the release of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

Please select the links below to view the Congressional Correspondence Logs: