The US House of Representatives narrowly defeated a Democratic amendment to deny funding to US Vice President Dick Cheney's office next year.
By a vote of 217-209, the House defeated legislation designed to rebuke Mr Cheney for refusing to comply with an executive order that set government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information.
Debate on the measure also gave Democrats another chance to mock Mr Cheney's recent contention that he was exempt from the rule on executive-branch documents because he also serves as president of the Senate, part of legislative branch.
He has since stepped back from that argument.
Further needling Mr Cheney, the amendment would have provided money for him to operate his office in the Senate while denying the nearly €3.7m for running the vice president's office and home in Washington.
The overall bill includes a salary increase for House members that would bring their annual pay to nearly $170,000 (€126,000) next year.
The Democratic attempt to kill funds for Mr Cheney's vice presidential office and the government-owned mansion he lives in came on the same day Mr Bush said he would not provide documents being subpoenaed by Democrats in Congress related to the firings of federal prosecutors.
Since Democrats took control of the House and Senate in January, they have mounted several high-profile challenges to Bush administration policies and practices, resulting in friction between the two branches of government.
During the first six years of his presidency, President Bush's fellow Republicans controlled Congress and rarely questioned him.
Democrats and Mr Cheney have been tangling since early into his tenure as vice president.
For years, Democrats have tried to gain access to records of Mr Cheney's meetings with oil and gas industry officials when he was crafting energy proposals early into the Bush administration.
