Tuesday, the White House begun handing over documents subpoenaed by lawmakers investigating contacts between the Bush administration and now-bankrupt Enron Corp. ENRNQ.PK.

The While House transferred the first batch of documents to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee after failing to finalize an agreement with Chairman Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, that would set strict limits on their public release.

"We're disappointed that Sen. Lieberman has chosen not to handle the documents in the same way the committee treated documents in the past," White House spokeswoman Ann Womack said. "We expect the committee to use the information in a thoughtful and deliberative manner which lends itself to gathering facts rather than engaging in a partisan fishing expedition."

Lieberman, a potential 2004

White House begins handing over Enron documents

REUTERS, Washington

challenger to Republican President George W. Bush, said he would impose "strict security procedures" for confidential and classified material found in the documents detailing White House contacts with Enron.

The energy giant filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 2 amid revelations of massive losses from off-the-books partnerships. The company was one of Bush's biggest campaign contributors.

The White House released the documents in response to two subpoenas issued on May 22 to the offices of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

The committee asked for communications between the White House and Enron regarding a wide range of federal agencies, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the securities and Exchange Commission.

The committee also asked for documents concerning Bush's energy plan, which, Democrats allege, reflected Enron's interests.

It gave the White House until June 3 to comply, though Lieberman extended the deadline by one day --

to Tuesday at noon -- to allow for time to negotiate an agreement governing whether the information would be publicly released.

The While House had hoped Lieberman would agree to give the ranking Republican on the Government Affairs Committee, Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, the power to block the release of any documents.

But Lieberman refused.

In a statement, Lieberman said documents may be made public if either he or Thompson determines "that disclosure is appropriate to further the purposes of the investigation."

Lieberman agreed, however, to give 24 hours' notice to the White House before any of the papers are released.

The first shipment of documents -- totaling over 2,000 pages -arrived at the Senate Government Affairs Committee more than five hours after the noon deadline, Lieberman's office said.