The Treasury Department is following in the Bush administration’s footsteps of refusing to provide Congress with requested information. The Bush administration has shown a consistent trend of refusing congressional requests for information including such matters as the energy task force; use of new powers granted under the Patriot Act; and the classified Saudi section of the 9/11 report. Now the Treasury Department joins the dance with a complete reversal on its commitment to provide to the Senate Government Affairs Committee a list of Saudi individuals and organizations that the government has investigated for possible financing of terrorist groups. In a July 31 hearing on Saudi sponsorship of terrorism, a senior Treasury official told the committee that the list was not classified and that it would turned over to the Senate within 24 hours. However, less than a week later the Treasury Department has declared the list classified and refuses to supply it to the Senate. The Treasury Department now claims that the commitment was made in error and that releasing the information would frustrate efforts to disrupt terrorist financing. Not everyone is satisfied with the agency’s reversal or its explanation, including Sen. Alan Specter (R-PA). Specter explained that if the Treasury Department does not voluntarily provide the information, then he would take steps to force them to honor their commitment. “They may be looking at a subpoena,” the Senator stated. “The guy made a commitment in an open hearing to produce it.” Specter also drew a sharp distinction between Treasury’s list and the Saudi section of the September 11th report, “It’s one thing to say that information in the 9/11 report about the Saudis is classified for national security reasons, but it’s quite another when you’re talking about a list of charities.”