The General Accounting Office escalated its effort to obtain documents about the administration's energy policy from Vice President Cheney yesterday by writing a demand letter to the president, a step the agency had taken only five times in 20 years.
The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, has been trying to obtain records of the meetings of President's Bush's energy policy development group, which Cheney chaired. Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) and Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) requested the investigation in April in an effort to learn, among other things, whether private industry had undue influence over the process.
Cheney's office has refused the request for records, saying the GAO does not have the statutory authority to examine the activities of the National Energy Policy Development Group.
The GAO said in a letter to Bush yesterday that the agency "has ample authority to conduct this review," and said it may go to court to get the documents if they are not provided within 20 days. The agency has scaled back its request, saying it does not require Cheney's personal schedule. However, the agency wants to know who attended the energy group's meetings, who was hired, who was consulted, and what the policy cost.
"We are continuing to work with GAO," a White House spokesman said.
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