There was a time when lying to Congress was a serious offense: :
Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg said on Thursday he will push the Justice Department to investigate whether major oil company executives lied to Congress when they testified their firms did not participate in a 2001 White House task force that formulated the Bush administration's national energy policy.
The heads of Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc's U.S. unit, ConocoPhillips, Chevron Corp. and Shell Oil were asked to clarify their statements made at a November 9 hearing on the industry's soaring profits after The Washington Post later reported a White House document showed many of the oil companies had met with the energy task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.
