Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested today that she would not comply with a House committee’s attempt to force her to testify about Bush administration claims that Saddam Hussein’s regime sought uranium from Niger.

“This is an issue that has been answered and answered and answered, and there have also been a number of independent looks at the issue,” Rice said from Oslo, where she is attending an informal meeting with NATO foreign ministers.

The Democratic-run House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday voted 21-10 to authorize Chairman Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., to issue a subpoena to Rice.

Waxman has been trying to get Rice to testify about claims in the buildup to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 that the Iraqi leader was trying to obtain uranium, a vital element for nuclear weaponry, from Niger.

Rice said she would be happy to answer further questions from Waxman in a letter, “because I think that that is the way to continue this dialogue,” but added that presidential advisers were not generally required to testify before Congress because of the constitutional separation of powers.

Committee aides declined to comment on Rice’s remarks.