Emanuel seeks to cut funding for Cheney's office, home [View All]

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Emanuel seeks to cut funding for Cheney's office, home

By Leora Falk
Washington Bureau
Published June 26, 2007, 7:57 PM CDT
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-cheney_wedjun26,1,6424091.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

WASHINGTON—Responding to claims by Vice President Dick Cheney that his office is exempt from disclosing information about what it has classified as secret, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) said Tuesday he will try to cut off the $4.8 million needed annually to run Cheney's office and home.

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"He's not part of the executive branch. We're not going to fund something that doesn't exist," said Emanuel, who is also the House Democratic Caucus chairman. "I'm following through on the vice president's logic, no matter how ludicrous it might be."

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the Senate ought to follow suit in cutting funding if Cheney does not comply with the executive order.

Cheney spokeswoman Megan McGinn retorted, "I think it is sad that Congressman Emanuel would rather focus on partisan politics than the serious issues facing our country."

White House press secretary Tony Snow said the president and vice president are not executive "agencies" and are therefore not covered under the executive order, but he stopped short of placing Cheney exclusively in the legislative branch. Snow He said the vice president has served "in an executive capacity delegated to him by the president" and noted that, constitutionally "there are no specified executive activities for the vice president," and that his role "is a wonderful academic question."