I have a new story this morning on why, after all the negotiating, the Bush White House will probably allow top officials to testify before Congress. The reason: the White House doesn’t have a lot of choice in the matter. From the story:

Making the White House’s job more difficult is a report prepared a few years ago by the Congressional Research Service listing the instances in which White House aides have testified before Congress. The list is quite short from World War II to the 1970s; since then, it has grown progressively longer. Most recently, the report lists 31 officials from the Clinton White House who testified before Congress (along with their title at the time of their testimony):
Samuel Berger, National Security Adviser Lanny Breuer, Special Counsel Lloyd Cutler, Special Counsel Lisa Caputo, Press Secretary to the First Lady Charles Easley, Director, White House Office of Security W. Neil Eggleston, Associate Counsel Mark Gearan, Assistant to the President for Communications Deborah Gorham, Assistant to the Associate Counsel Nancy Heinreich, Deputy Assistant Carolyn Huber, Special Assistant Harold Ickes, Deputy Chief of Staff Joel Klein, Deputy Counsel Evelyn Lieberman, Deputy Press Secretary Mark Lindsay, Director of White House Management and Administration Bruce Lindsey, Special Adviser Capricia Marshall, Special Assistant to the First Lady Thomas McLarty, Counselor Cheryl Mills, Deputy Counsel Bobby Nash, Director of Presidential Personnel Stephen Neuwirth, Associate Counsel Dimitri Nionakis, Associate Counsel Beth Nolan, Associate Counsel John Podesta, Staff Secretary John Quinn, Chief of Staff to the Vice President Charles Ruff, Counsel Jane Sherburne, Special Counsel Clifford Sloan, Associate Counsel Patty Solis, Director of Scheduling for the First Lady George Stephanopoulos, Senior Policy Adviser Patsy Thomasson, Assistant Director for Presidential Personnel Margaret Williams, Chief of Staff to the First Lady