Cheney may win battle of wills over papers

WASHINGTON, June 20 (UPI) -- House Democrats say time no longer is an ally in their efforts to get U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney to open his records to public scrutiny.

With the Bush administration nearing the end of its second term, the House's top investigator says he's run out of options to force Cheney to turn over documents to Congress, The Hill reported.

"I'm not sure there's anything we can do," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Cheney has argued that, because of his duties in the U.S. Senate, he is not exclusively part of the executive branch and isn't subject to public-records standards.

A leading watchdog group told the Washington publication Cheney will probably leave the White House without turning over the exact number of records he found to be classified, or a detailed list of his employees.