Cheney gets to keep his budget after all

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney won't lose his home, his office and his entertainment expense account after all.

The House rejected an attempt to eliminate the vice president's executive office budget on Thursday, a move that Democrats tied to Cheney's assertion that his office didn't need to comply with national security-disclosure rules required of other executive-branch agencies.

The vote, on an amendment to a 2008 spending bill for the Treasury Department and executive branch agencies, was defeated 217-209.

Republicans had denounced the proposal as political theater.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., author of the amendment, said the amendment was the logical outgrowth of Cheney's claim that his office was outside the scope of rules imposed on other executive offices because the vice president also serves as president of the Senate.

"Perhaps the vice president thought he occupied an undisclosed fourth branch of government," Emmanuel said.

The proposal would have withheld about $4.8 million in the budget for the vice president's official residence, his office and for other expenses including the hiring of passenger vehicles and entertainment expenses. He would still have received a smaller budget for his role as Senate president.