Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt in front of the FDR Presidential Library

In a move that will have repercussions throughout the book business, and for freedom-loving folks everywhere, the US Congress kicked off its new session by quickly voting to overturn the Bush Executive Order on Presidential Records. They also approved legislation requiring the identification of donors to presidential libraries. According to the Associated Press via the First Amendment Center, “Majority Democrats have joined with President-elect Barack Obama in promising to make government operations more transparent. Both bills now go to the Senate.” They quoted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as saying, “Today, we continue our reform efforts by ensuring meaningful and timely access to presidential records and the disclosure of big money donations to presidential libraries.” (Check out the earlier MobyLives story about how much cash these presidential libraries can or cannot generate.)