The House Energy and Commerce Committee rejected a resolution last Wednesday that would have sought information on Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force. The resolution sparked a rowdy and highly partisan committee session in which no debate was allowed before the vote. Reps. John Dingell (D-MI), Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA) introduced House Resolution 745 on July 22. If passed, it would have asked President Bush to provide the House with specified task force information within two weeks. The information would include:

• Names of all present at each task force meeting
• Names of professional support staff for the task force
• Names of everyone members and support staff met with to gather information relevant to the task force, and the date, location and subject of each meeting
• Direct and indirect costs of developing the National Energy Policy.

In an unusual move, Republicans on the committee did not issue a press release about the markup, apparently in an attempt to minimize attention. The Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), asserted that Democrats were using the resolution as a political tool to embarrass the administration before the elections. After only allowing Dingell, the ranking Democrat, to give an opening statement the Republicans called for a vote without allowing any debate on the motion. Shouts and boos erupted. Waxman even left the room after claiming the representatives were acting like teenagers. The resolution was voted down in a party line vote of 30-22. For background on the energy task force, see the following OMB Watch articles:

• "Supreme Court Denies Cheney's Bid to Avoid Discovery in Energy Task Force Decision"
• "Judge Orders White House to Turn Over Energy Task Force Documents, Again"
• "DOE Forced to Turn Over Energy Task Force Documents"
• "Court Orders Release of Additional Energy Task Force Documents"