The Los Angeles Times is reporting that House Republicans have shut down an inquiry by Democrats on whether the Bush administration mislead Congress on the true costs of last year’s Medicare prescription drug bill.

The Democrats were attempting to force the White House to allow two top officials connected to Medicare to answer questions regarding the charges that Medicare’s former administrator, Thomas Scully, threatened to fire a top actuary if he revealed the actual costs.

But for the second time in recent weeks the White House claimed there was a longstanding policy against having White House staff testify before Congress. The Bush administration had also used this excuse to justify its initial refusal to allow National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice testify publicly before the 9/11 commission.

Scully, the former head of Medicare, said he couldn’t testify because he has been too busy traveling. Scully left government soon after the Medicare bill was passed to take a lucrative job working for law firms that represent pharmaceutical interests that benefited from the new law.