Documents that were withheld last summer will have to be provided by the federal agencies. The Senate expects to start hearings in late January. The focus will be limited at first to the raiding of Vince Foster's office in the White House on the night of his death and the mysterious removal of the files relating to Whitewater to the upstairs chambers of Hillary Clinton. But it is likely to expand by degrees. It is not yet clear how far Mr D'Amato intends to go in that direction.
Republicans are cautious about throwing themselves into Whitewater.
Excessive zeal would be seen as vindictive. We want him alive but fatally wounded, so he's ripe for the picking at the next election.