The measure was rushed through both the House and Senate as a stopgap measure, in part because of a classified ruling earlier this year by a special intelligence court, which held that the government needed to seek court-approved warrants to monitor those international calls going through American switches.

The new law expires in six months, but the White House has said it wants the provisions made permanent. Mr. Leahy said his committee and the Senate in general need the paperwork to properly assess the administration’s rationale for the eavesdropping.

It was no surprise that the White House did not meet the demands of the subpoena today, since it has balked at earlier deadlines and the White House counsel, Fred Fielding, told Mr. Leahy’s committee today that the White House still needed more time.

Mr. Leahy did say that the office of Vice President Dick Cheney had at least acknowledged the existence of some documents that his committee is seeking. Mr. Leahy said a letter acknowledging the documents was “a good first step,” one that should be followed by the administration’s quickly turning them over.

But Mr. Leahy said the administration had maintained today, as it has before, that the office of the vice president is not part of the executive office of the president, and instead was “some kind of fourth branch of government.”