Congress Hits White House Secrecy

"The Bush administration's refusal to cooperate with even the most routine and basic congressional requests for information is infuriating members of Congress and violating congressional rights and responsibilities," reports Alexander Bolton in The Hill, a newspaper for Washington insiders. Republicans and Democrats alike in Congress are complaining about the secrecy, which extends beyond issues like national defense and foreign policy and includes areas such as environmental, educational and science issues. "A number of lawmakers are threatening to subpoena the administration -- an extreme step reserved by lawmakers as a last resort to elicit cooperation on mundane inquiries," Bolton writes.