WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday escalated a constitutional showdown with President Bush, approving the first ever contempt of Congress citations against West Wing aides and reigniting last year's battle over the scope of executive privilege.

On a 223-32 vote, the House approved contempt citations against White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers for their refusal to cooperate with an investigation into the mass firings of U.S. attorneys and allegations that administration officials sought to politicize the Justice Department.

The vote came after a morning of tense partisan bickering over parliamentary rules, including a GOP call for a vote on a motion to close the chamber that briefly forced lawmakers to leave a memorial service for Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., who died this week. The conflict was capped later in the day when most House Republicans walked off the floor and refused to cast a final vote. They accused Democrats of forcing a partisan vote on the contempt citations instead of approving a surveillance law supported by Bush.

Democrats said they were left with no choice but to engage in a legal showdown with Bush because he has refused for nearly a year to allow any current or former West Wing staff member to testify in the inquiry. Citing executive privilege, the president has offered their testimony only if it is taken without transcripts and not under oath.

"This is beyond arrogance. This is hubris taken to the ultimate degree," Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in the closing moments of the debate.

The administration immediately condemned the House action, noting that no White House official has ever been cited for contempt. "This action is unprecedented, and it is outrageous. It is also an incredible waste of time — time the House should spend doing the American people's legislative business," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a statement.

The last Cabinet-level officials cited for contempt were a pair administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1982 and 1983 for refusing to cooperate in House oversight investigations.

The contempt resolution against Bolten cites his refusal to turn over subpoenaed documents and e-mails sought by the House Judiciary Committee in its now yearlong investigation into the dismissals of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. Miers was cited for refusing to testify after she was subpoenaed to appear before the panel last summer.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved contempt citations for Bolten and former White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, who also refused to appear before that panel.

The furor over the fired prosecutors began last January when congressional Democrats learned that seven U.S. attorneys were fired on the same day, Dec. 7, 2006. Most senior staff of the department resigned as the congressional investigations unfolded, and former attorney general Alberto Gonzales, who resigned in September, is the subject of an internal investigation into whether he tampered with a likely witness.