Democratic plans to spend money on extra lawyers from a private D.C. law firm shows that Congress is going to "investigate, not legislate," the White House said this morning.

"If they are going to spend $25,000 a month to hire a private law firm in Washington D.C., it's only further evidence of what their intentions are ... I think it's to investigate, not legislate," said White House spokesman Dana Perino at a morning briefing.

"Not a penny of that is going to go towards anything that the American people want the Congress to be working on," Mrs. Perino said.

Mrs. Perino was responding to a report in the Washington Times that House Judiciary Committee John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat, plans to spend up to $225,000 over nine months to bring in more lawyers to his committee.

The contract, with Arnold & Porter, is specifically for help with the committee's probe into the firing of eight federal prosecutors last year.

But Rep. Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat, said he could not recall ever hiring outside lawyers to help in his many investigations as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"We usually rely on staff," he said.

The House judiciary committee includes close to 30 paid staff positions, not including the many subcommittee staff members.

A spokesman for Mr. Conyers had not responded to multiple requests for comment.

-- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times