WASHINGTON — Following through on the Democratic Party's pledge to conduct aggressive oversight, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) headed toward a possible confrontation Tuesday with the White House over his demands for documents that could show whether the Bush administration interfered with the work of government climate scientists to downplay the dangers of global warming.
Waxman, presiding over his first hearing as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, did not threaten to issue subpoenas, but said he would "insist on Congress' right" to the information.
Waxman and the committee's top Republican, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III of Virginia, sent a strongly worded letter to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, calling on it to "reconsider the confrontational approach" and produce the documents within 10 days.
"The committee isn't trying to obtain state secrets or documents that could affect our immediate national security," said Waxman, complaining that he and Davis had been asking for the documents for six months. "We are simply seeking answers to whether the White House's political staff is inappropriately censoring impartial government scientists."
Davis added: "We have every right to understand what the science is showing and how the administration is spinning it."
A spokeswoman for the Council on Environmental Quality said allegations that the administration had attempted to interfere with the work of climate scientists were false. Kristen Hellmer also said the agency had provided more than 10,000 pages of documents and would try to work with the committee.
The oversight hearing was one of the first to be held by the new Democratic majority in Congress. Waxman, a lawmaker with a reputation as an investigatory pit bull, plans to hold four hearings next week on fraud, waste and abuse in government spending in Iraq and other areas.
Tuesday's hearing was prompted by reports that administration appointees, including a former oil industry lobbyist who was chief of staff at the Council on Environmental Quality, edited climate change reports or pressured scientists to tone down statements about the dangers of global warming.
The White House has opposed mandatory caps on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, contending the caps could be costly to industry and harm the economy.
