Is Cheney A Part Of Executive Branch?

Just a quick update on the secrecy of Dick Cheney and his refusal to follow an executive order, which since 2003, Dick Cheney and his office have refused to cooperate with the Office of National Archives and Administration, who are charged with making sure that the executive branch protects classified information. Vice-President Cheney's staff have not filed reports on their possession of classified data, and at one point they actually blocked an inspection of their office. In addition to this inexcusable breach of security, Cheney's office tried to have the Office of National Archives and Administration eliminated.

Responding to the Vice-President's claims that he is not part of the executive branch, Representative Rahm Emanuel (Democrat of illinois) said that he will try to cut off the $4.8 million needed annually to run Cheney's office and home.

The Vice-President came under scrutiny last week when Representative Henry Waxman (Democrat of California) released documents higlighting Vice-President Cheney's failure to report the handling of classified information and the Vice-President's suggestion that the oversight office be closed.

Representative Emanuel's proposal would be an amendment to a spending bill that includes funding of the executive branch. Emanuel said that if the Vice-President's is not part of the executive branch then we should not be funding it as such. He said, "we're not going to fund something that doesn't exist."