NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to issue subpoenas to the Bush administration for information on its contacts with bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp.

The subpoenas -- one to the Executive Office of the President and one to the Office of the Vice President -- will be issued later Wednesday, a committee aide told CNN/Money. The 9-8 vote came after nearly two hours of arguing and was strictly along party lines.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, has been pressing for more information on the Bush administration's contacts with Enron. Last week, Lieberman sent a letter to the White House threatening to subpoena and alleged that White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales was still refusing to commit to providing information sought by the committee back in March.

The White House has yet to receive the subpoenas, spokeswoman Anne Womack said Wednesday.

"Sen. Lieberman's subpoenas, which were passed by a party line vote, [are] unnecessary and we are perplexed that he chose to pursue this confrontational approach rather than work cooperatively with the White House," Womack said.

The subpoenas are also the first for the Bush White House which is prepared to provide some initial information later Wednesday, she said.

Houston-based Enron, once the seventh-largest company in the nation, filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history on Dec. 2. The energy trader allegedly used thousands of off-the-book partnerships to hide nearly $1 billion in debt and inflate profits.

Before it collapsed, Enron had close ties to the White House and lobbied heavily to deregulate energy markets. Some Democrats in Congress have suggested that the once-mighty energy trader benefited from its ties with senior Bush administration officials.

Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., the ranking minority member on the committee, called the subpoenas inappropriate and premature.

"It appears that this is nothing more than a desire to have a look-see to see if possibly something might turn up," Thompson said Wednesday.

From FindLaw       Subpoena for the Executive Office of the President (requires Adobe Acrobat)

The Bush administration has acknowledged that Vice President Dick Cheney, or his energy task force aides, met with Enron executives six times last year, but the administration also said that Enron's financial situation was never discussed during those sessions. Cheney has refused to hand over information to Congress about his closed-door energy task force meetings.

The General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, is now suing Cheney to force the release of the names and the trial is set to begin Sept. 18, a GAO spokesman said Wednesday.

White House Counsel Gonzalez asked Lieberman Tuesday to reconsider and withdraw the threat of a subpoena. Gonzalez, in a letter to Lieberman, said that the White House has taken numerous steps to gather information and that the committee would be acting "precipitously" by issuing a subpoena.

"It would be irresponsible, in my judgment, for my office to commit in advance to provide information to Congress before we have reviewed it to assess whether disclosure would be inconsistent with the effective operation and long-term institutional prerogatives of the Presidency," Gonzalez said in the May 21 letter.