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