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THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2002

The chairmen of three Senate committees on Wednesday asked Vice President Dick Cheney to release documents and records from the national energy task force he chaired.

Cheney has balked at the request, which was first made by Democrats in the House who asked the General Accounting Office to investigate the formation of the energy policy. But the pressure over the Enron controversy may be forcing him to retreat, Republicans indicated yesterday.

The GAO was close to filing a lawsuit against Cheney to get the records but backed off after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The agency, however, is again looking to mount a court challenge if necessary.

The chairmen who asked were: Government Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.) and Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.). Also signing a letter to Cheney backing the GAO investigation was Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), chairman of a Commerce subcommittee.

One of the House members who had made the initial request, Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, writes in The New York Times today that he doesn't want the dispute to turn into one of lawsuits and subpoenas. But he says the public's right to know is important.

"The vice president is certainly allowed to agree with a position of one of the president's largest donors, but shouldn't we in Congress and the American public be allowed to know how these proposals were formulated?" Dingell writes.

Get the Story:
3 Senate Chairmen Seek Records of Energy Panel (The Washington Post 1/24)
Dingell: Who Helped Cheney? (The New York Times 1/24)
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