One member of the Congressional panel, Representative Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida, said he believed that Mr. Skilling was "practicing plausible deniability".
"In 10 years, no one's raised a hand against the mayor, because you know you'll get fired if you do," said Patrick Sullivan, a panel representative from Manhattan.
But the affair turned surprisingly contentious, not because of the Republican majority, but thanks to the ranking Democrat on the panel, Representative Bob Filner of California.
Mr. Dicks's predecessor on the panel, Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, who died in February, was renowned for his use of earmarks.
With Mr. Thomas pledging a new era of politeness, the senior Democrat on the Ways and Means panel, Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York, was asked if he could now work productively with the chairman.
But one former chairman of the House panel, Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas, said today that the deadline had already been extended at least twice and that "I think the time for extensions is over".
At a recent meeting of the deficit reduction panel, Representative Dave Camp, Republican of Michigan, sought assurances that nothing would prevent Congress from changing the mechanism for automatic cuts in military spending.
The panel representative from Australia did not participate in the deliberations and an unidentified member disagreed with the ruling and argued that Mr Assange's situation does not constitute detention and so falls outside of its mandate.
Left panel: representative images; right panel: quantitative analysis (***P < 0.001).
Left panel: representative image; right panel: quantitative analysis.
Upper panel: representative image; lower panel: quantitative analysis (***P < 0.001).
