A Senate committee on Thursday authorized subpoenas for White House political adviser Karl Rove and others to testify under oath about the firings of U.S. attorneys.

It's the latest in a fight between President Bush and Congress over whether the officials -- Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers, and their two deputies -- should reveal under oath what they know about the firings.

Committee members sparred with Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, who was questioning the need for Congress to subpoena White House aides to testify under oath and their testimony to be recorded in transcripts.

"These investigations have already hurt good people," Kyl said."We need to be very judicious in exercising our power."

"Subpoenas should be issued by this committee as a last resort, and it would be premature to do so now," he said.

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said subpoenas -- if issued -- would be used for "nothing more than to seek needed information."

The Senate committee vote echoes Wednesday's House Judiciary subcommittee vote to authorize subpoenas. The vote does not mean that subpoenas will be issued, only that they could be if the four White House officials Democrats want to question do not voluntarily testify under oath.

Bush has offered to allow Congress to interview the officials, but no oath could be administered and no transcript could be made. The president has said he will not allow the figures to testify under oath because it would damage their ability to give him their "candid advice."

During the panel hearing, the ranking Republican, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, proposed "that we have a proceeding which has a transcript, that it be an open proceeding, that the witnesses not be called upon to be under oath because the penalties are just as severe for a false official statement."

The president is standing by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose handing of the attorney firings has drawn harsh bipartisan criticism.

Attending an official event in St. Louis, Missouri, Thursday, Gonzales said he planned to "be going up to the Congress and providing further clarification about what happened here."

The longtime Bush colleague wouldn't back down from his defense, saying, "We have a situation where the president of the United States has the authority to hire and to fire United States attorneys."

Gonzales will be meeting with regional groups of U.S. attorneys on Thursday, while separately, the Justice Department has begun to "engage each U.S. attorney in a district-specific dialogue on how to balance the department's priorities with local challenges," a Justice Department official said Wednesday.