Issa (right) initiated the conversation with Biden. | AP photos Biden agrees to Issa sit-down

Vice President Joe Biden has agreed to a sit-down to discuss the 2009 economic stimulus with incoming Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, the subpoena-wielding foil for Democrats who worry the new House GOP leadership will be all too eager to conduct political investigations.

After speaking by phone last week, Biden and Issa were scheduled to meet Monday, sources tell POLITICO. But the vice president, who has stimulus chief Earl Devaney and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer on his schedule today, postponed the planned talk.


Issa, who has accused the White House of engaging in an over-the-top propaganda campaign to promote the $800 billion stimulus law, wants to create penalties for those that don't comply with the law's reporting requirements. More important — and more broadly — he wants inspectors general at federal agencies to have subpoena power so that they have more leverage in investigating allegations of abuse in the expenditure of government money.

Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella framed last week's discussion as cordial and the upcoming meeting as an opportunity for the California Republican and the vice president, who oversees the administration's stimulus effort, to cooperate with each other.

"There's a mutual goal of wanting transparency in stimulus dollars," Bardella told POLITICO. He said Issa initiated the conversation with Biden because he didn't want to wait until January, when Republicans take control of the House, to address potential problems in the implementation of the stimulus law.

“The purpose of the meeting between the vice president and Rep. Issa, when it happens, will be to discuss oversight of the Recovery Act and opportunities to increase transparency in other federal programs,” a White House official told POLITICO. “The level of transparency and accountability in the Recovery Act is a model for other federal programs.”

Issa and Devaney have had a positive working relationship during the implementation of the stimulus law.