Henry Waxman: “last Friday, February 7, the General Accounting Office abandoned its efforts to obtain basic records about the operation…”

“last Friday, February 7, the General Accounting Office abandoned its efforts to obtain basic records about the operation of the Vice President's Task Force on Energy Policy. This action received only limited attention, and few people fully understand its profound consequences. When we have divided government, the public can expect Congress to conduct needed oversight over the executive branch. But today we are living in an era of one-party control. This means the House and the Senate are not going to conduct meaningful oversight of the Bush administration. When there is one-party control of both the White House and Congress, there is only one entity that can hold the administration accountable, and that is the independent General Accounting Office. But now GAO has been forced to surrender this fundamental independence. When GAO decided not to appeal the District Court decision in Walker v. Cheney, it made a fateful decision. In the Comptroller General's words, GAO will now require 'an affirmative statement of support from at least one full committee with jurisdiction over any records they seek to access prior to any future court action by GAO.' Translated, what this means is that GAO will bring future actions to enforce its rights to documents only with the blessings of the majority party in Congress. This is a fundamental shift in our system of checks and balances.…”