Hodge said a briefing note for the present director general, Tony Hall, disclosed after a freedom of information request, said Thompson had given "verbal instructions" to the lawyer drafting the compromise agreement and there was "no documented approval of the payment" to Fincham.
But colleagues on the deputies committee say he played an important role this month in drafting the compromise language saying the United States was "very sorry" for the loss of the Chinese pilot whose plane collided with an American spy plane in Chinese airspace.
Ms. Cousins and Legislator Michael B. Kaplowitz of Yorktown, both Democrats, drafted the compromise legislation approved this week.
Senators Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, the chairman of the Finance Committee, and Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the panel, have drafted the compromise that would extend the program for three years.
Peter Baker, campaign director for the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association, which helped environmentalists draft the compromise rules, said: "We think most of our guys are going to make it through.
"This is a significant breakthrough," said Senator Mike DeWine, Republican of Ohio, who drafted the compromise with Ms. Snowe and two moderate Democratic senators, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.
In drafting the new compromise bill, lawmakers borrowed language developed in the conference committee, headed by Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma, the assistant Republican leader.
After all, the administration had spent the previous four years drafting the proposal, striking a compromise with the City Council, winning the approval of various public agencies, and then defending the measure against several court challenges.
Or a canny cardinal who knows the ways of Brussels and can draft the endless compromises that keep the EU show on the road?
The new bill is widely heralded as a compromise, as Leahy sought input from the Obama administration in drafting the bill.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla)., who actually helped draft the Senate immigration compromise that is now before the House, has advised his House counterparts to reject it.
