Reply #113: House to move on contempt action against Bush aides

[struggle4progress]

By Richard B. Schmitt, Times Staff Writer
6:36 PM PDT, July 23, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The House Judiciary Committee said Monday that it would move forward with contempt of Congress proceedings against President Bush's chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, and former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers for refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas pertaining to the investigation of the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year.

The panel's chairman, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said the committee would vote Wednesday on a resolution to hold Bolten and Miers in contempt for refusing to turn over documents and testimony sought by the panel.

The decision ratchets up a battle between Congress and the White House in which the Bush administration has sought to invoke executive privilege to keep documents about the firings under wraps. The resolution would go to the House floor for a vote if, as expected, the committee approves it.

Only twice since the Watergate investigations of the mid-1970s has the full House voted to hold an administration official in contempt of Congress. ~snip~

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-contempt24jul24,0,5425887.story?coll=la-home-center