'' Tensions over the balance of powers and executive branch consultations with Congress mounted today as White House officials said Tom Ridge, the director of homeland security, would refuse to testify before a Senate committee about President Bush's call for $38 billion in domestic security programs.

The White House said that Mr. Ridge would not appear because he was an adviser to the president, not a cabinet officer.

[....]

While most of the discontent has been voiced by Democrats, today it started to spill over into Republican ranks. Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he believed that Mr. Ridge had an obligation to testify before the Appropriations Committee. "He is the homeland security czar," Senator Shelby said. "I agree with Senators Byrd and Stevens that he should appear."

[....]

In another dispute, over the administration's activation of a cold- war-era contingency plan to keep government running in case of catastrophic attack, senior White House officials and Republican Congressional aides said that the administration had informed some in Congress but that the information had been closely held because it was sensitive.

Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois, is third in line of succession, after Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. A knowledgeable Republican aide said today that Mr. Hastert had been briefed about the contingency plan.

Senator Tom Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, the majority leader, complained last week that he had not been told of the shadow government.

''

- NY Times