Paul Wolfowitz may have overreached yesterday when he cited scruples in the administration's secret channeling of money earmarked for the war in Afghanistan and counterterrorism into its covert planning for the Iraq war without telling Congress. The administration tried "scrupulously" to live up to legal obligations to tell Congress, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

But even some Republican members of Congress aren't buying Wolfowitz's spin, including GOP Sen. John McCain, who said on Tuesday that there would be hearings into possible fund diversions and "the mechanics of moving money around."

A new Center for American Progress backgrounder looks at the administration's legal obligation to tell Congress if it diverted appropriations to its Iraq mission.