GAO To Sue White House
(CBS) The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, will announce Wednesday it is filing suit against the White House to obtain details of how a task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney formulated its energy plan, congressional sources said.
The GAO informed the leadership of Congress of its decision Wednesday morning and was expected to announce it Wednesday afternoon, said a congressional leadership source, who asked not to be named.
"They have decided to go ahead," the source said.
A decision had been expected from GAO Comptroller General David Walker all week.
Among the details sought by the GAO are the task force's contacts with energy companies, including Enron Corp., which has since collapsed. The White House has refused to hand over the records, saying the disclosure would encroach on its ability to obtain candid advice from outside experts.
Walker began his pursuit of the task force records last spring at the request of Rep. Henry Waxman of California and Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, both Democrats. They complained that environmentalists had been largely shut out of the task force's closed-door sessions.
It would be the first time in the GAO's 80-year existence that it sued the executive branch. The lawsuit would be filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
GAO officials were calling congressional leaders at the Capitol Wednesday morning to tell them of the decision. An official announcement explaining the GAO's reasoning was expected after noon.
On Tuesday, some Republicans threatened to try to block the suit.
"I think it may come to that," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Congress' investigative arm shouldn't be "trying to impose disclosure on internal White House meetings to determine policy," Hatch said. "If you have to do that, pretty soon there wouldn't be any meetings."
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said Tuesday he and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., planned to "talk to the agency."
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he was researching to see whether the GAO would be overstepping its authority by taking on the administration. "My concerns are that it would encroach upon the deliberative process and make it impossible for the vice president at the direction of the president to make a recommendation," Specter said. "It's also a tricky area on executive privilege."
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