A US House of Representatives committee has voted along party lines to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.
Mr Holder refused to hand over papers relating to a botched sting operation.The move comes after President Barack Obama used his executive privilege to withhold documents sought by the House Oversight Committee's review.
Operation Fast and Furious saw US agents lose hundreds of illegal guns let into Mexico to trace arms dealers.
Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have said they will schedule a full vote next week on the issue.
But if the documents the committee has asked for are submitted first the problem might be solved, House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor said.
A US border agent was killed with a weapon linked to Fast and Furious in December 2010.
Impasse
The Department of Justice says it has denied access to the files because they contain information that could affect ongoing criminal investigations.
Its officials say they have already sent more than 7,000 documents to the Republican-led House Oversight Committee.
Wednesday's use of executive privilege for withholding documents is the first time Mr Obama has invoked the power. Former Presidents George W Bush and Bill Clinton used the privilege six and 14 times respectively during their eight-year terms.
On Tuesday, Mr Holder met the committee chairman Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, but they did not agree on a path forward.
Mr Holder said lawmakers had turned down his offer to give them the documents, along with a briefing on the operation, in exchange for assurances that the panel would drop contempt proceedings.
Officials charged with contempt of Congress could potentially be fined or jailed - but correspondents say this standoff is unlikely to provoke such an outcome.
Historically, Congress and the White House have negotiated agreements to avoid a court battle that would limit either Congress' subpoena power or executive privilege itself.
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