The White House on Friday defended Vice President Dick Cheney's decision not to cooperate with a government office charged with safeguarding national security information and denied that Cheney ever suggested the agency be shut down.
Waxman scoffed at the assertion, calling it "an absurdity for the ages."
"The vice president is pretending he isn't part of the executive branch and the White House is pretending that the rules for protecting classified information are being followed," he said in a statement.
"The vice president can't unilaterally decide he is his own branch of government and exempt himself from important, commonsense safeguards for protecting classified information. And he can't insist he has the powers of both the executive and the legislature branches but the responsibilities of neither. Our Constitution doesn't work that way," he said.
White House Defends Cheney Over Secrets
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White House Defends Cheney's Refusal of Oversight
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White House Backs Cheney's Secrecy Stance
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Waxman scoffed at the assertion, calling it "an absurdity for the ages."
"The vice president is pretending he isn't part of the executive branch and the White House is pretending that the rules for protecting classified information are being followed," he said in a statement.
"The vice president can't unilaterally decide he is his own branch of government and exempt himself from important, commonsense safeguards for protecting classified information. And he can't insist he has the powers of both the executive and the legislature branches but the responsibilities of neither. Our Constitution doesn't work that way," he said.
White House Defends Cheney Over Secrets
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White House Defends Cheney's Refusal of Oversight
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White House Backs Cheney's Secrecy Stance
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