With the focus of the White House and Congress on terrorism, Comptroller General David M. Walker said the General Accounting Office (GAO) temporarily has put the brakes on its pursuit of information and records from Vice President Dick Cheney related to the Cabinet-level energy task force.

“We remain very concerned [over] the failure of the vice president to provide the information that we requested,” but “given our current national focus on combating terrorism and enhancing homeland security, this matter is not a current priority,” he said in a prepared statement.

“We will determine whether and when we should proceed to court on this matter in due course,” Walker noted. Prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes, the GAO had threatened to go to the mat to obtain the task force-related records, including taking legal action. The task force, formally known as the National Energy Policy Development Group, developed President Bush’s national energy policy, which was issued last spring.

This would be the first time that the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, would go to court against the executive branch. President Bush and Director Mitch Daniels of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have the authority to abort the GAO inquiry, but neither has taken this action (Daily GPI, Sept. 10).

The GAO initiated its inquiry in May at the request of Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and John Dingell (D-MI), who had voiced concerns about the conduct, operations and funding of the energy task force. The congressmen claimed that the closed-door task force meetings violated the sunshine laws and the “letter and spirit” of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Their request for the probe was prompted by news reports that the task force had met privately with large campaign contributors, such as Enron Corp. CEO Kenneth Lay, to formulate the president’s energy policy.

Cheney’s office has provided some of the requested information to the GAO, but it has refused to turn over documents identifying the attendees at the task force meetings, who the task force met with to formulate the energy policy, and the costs that were incurred while developing the president’s energy policy. It argues that the GAO doesn’t have the legal authority to demand such information.

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