The revelations, obtained via a series of freedom of information (FoI) requests, raise wider concerns about the use of consultants due to a lack of experienced staff inside the ONR and come a week after the Hinkley project got a go-ahead from the European competition directorate for a proposed UK subsidy scheme.
As much as the spending requests raise questions about the ideological consistency of the freshmen Republican class, they also underscore the arguments Democrats have been making during the height of deficit-reduction debate: The government plays a vital role in activities that the private sector often avoids.
The $8m request raised the eyebrows of some budget hawks.
But prosecutors say the $5 million ransom request raised their suspicions about her income.
The Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department needed to figure out the "potential legal questions" that the request raised, Mulvaney wrote.
The bank declined to do so, saying that it would violate regulations, but the request raised suspicion and led the bank to file the report.
Mr. Merrill challenged the constitutionality of the letter he received in 2004, saying the request raised "red flags" of being politically motivated.
Asked whether the Sensenbrenner request raised questions about the separation of powers, Keith Ausbrook, the chief counsel for oversight and investigation for Mr. Sensenbrenner, said the letter to Judge Martin cited the needed authority.
The request raised eyebrows in Congress because the substance, which kills by causing respiratory failure, was not even supposed to exist; President Richard M. Nixon had ordered the government to destroy all of its bacteriological weapons in 1969.
The work did go to the Tate, though only after Miro, at Serota's request, raised £300,000 towards the purchase from five different sources, all of whom insisted on anonymity.
