White House Orders a Review of Energy Department Loans After Solyndra Scandal
- Posted on October 28, 2011 at 5:24pm by
Becket Adams
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The White House on Friday ordered an independent review of several loans made by the Energy Department, its latest response to rising criticism over Solyndra Inc.
The announcement came as House Republicans prepared for a possible vote next week to subpoena White House documents related to the defunct California company.
According to White House officials, the review would “assess the health of more than two dozen other renewable energy loans and loan guarantees made by the Energy Department program that supported Solyndra.”
“Today we are directing that an independent analysis be conducted of the current state of the Department of Energy loan portfolio, focusing on future loan monitoring and management,” White House chief of staff Bill Daley said.
“While we continue to take steps to make sure the United States remains competitive in the 21st century energy economy, we must also ensure that we are strong stewards of taxpayer dollars,” he added.
Daley said the review would be conducted by former Treasury official Herb Allison, who oversaw the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), part of the 2008 Wall Street bailout.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement that he welcomed the White House review.
House Republicans are preparing to ramp up their investigation of Solyndra, which is proving a political headache for the White House and providing fodder for opponents of Obama’s renewable energy agenda.
The White House has already refused a request by the Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce Committee for all its internal communications about Solyndra, which closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year, costing 1,100 jobs.
GOP Reps. Fred Upton of Michigan and Cliff Stearns of Florida said Friday a subpoena was necessary because the White House has denied its requests for documents. Upton chairs the Energy and Commerce panel, while Stearns leads a subcommittee on investigations. Recently released emails and other documents show that White House officials participated in decisions regarding the Solyndra loan.
“What is the White House trying to hide from the American public?” Stearns and Upton asked in a joint statement. “It is alarming for the Obama White House to cast aside its vows of transparency and block Congress from learning more about the roles that those in the White House and other members of the administration played in the Solyndra mess.”
The panel is seeking documents that might shed light on actions by White House officials in connection with the original 2009 loan to Solyndra as well as a restructuring of the deal that took place earlier this year.
The Obama administration has released thousands of emails – but withheld thousands more – concerning the $528 million loan. To date, the administration says it has produced 70,000 pages, participated in nine briefings for congressional committee staff and provided testimony at four House committee hearings.
White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler has previously said that the committee leaders’ request for more documents has implications for executive branch confidentiality.
“It has been well-established for decades that the president has a strong constitutionally rooted interest in preserving the confidentiality of executive branch deliberative communications,” Ruemmler wrote the committee this week.
The White House also has said it would not release Obama’s BlackBerry messages – which if released would be a presidential first.
Any subpoena of White House records could trigger a claim of executive privilege by the Obama administration and elevate the political stakes, although the issue could also be resolved through negotiations.
The loan is being investigated by two House committees, which have released Solyndra-related documents from federal agencies including the Energy and Treasury departments and the Office of Management and Budget.
Solyndra is under criminal investigation by the FBI. Inspectors general at the U.S. Treasury and the Energy Department also are investigating.
MSNBC provides a report:
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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the point
Posted on October 31, 2011 at 4:31pmI would say that this is telling the fox to guard the chicken house.
Report Post »jtm45
Posted on October 30, 2011 at 5:25pmjust checking the list and making sure no campaign contributor was missed!
Report Post »the point
Posted on October 30, 2011 at 4:45pmThe Energy Dept. along with the rest of the Federal Gov. is like the big time criminals. They all keep two sets of books. Who do they think they are trying to fool???
Report Post »haras42000
Posted on October 29, 2011 at 3:07pmya ya ya anything to shut down the questions from all those FAKE new channels (CNN, MSNBC,ABC,CBS.NBC) THINGS THAT COME FROM FORK TOUNG PRESIDENT just wanting fake new to forget about it. and they have. thier pea brains wont remember this friday news dump.
Report Post »Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on October 29, 2011 at 11:55amWhut the heck.. Since they are being investigated anyway~! They will take a headline and somehow twist it into a pile of ‘bush did it’
Report Post »quiltgal
Posted on October 29, 2011 at 9:40amIsn’t this like letting a criminal investigate his own crime? Or be his own judge and jury?
Report Post »geonj
Posted on October 28, 2011 at 11:42pmi expected obama‘s administration to throw DoE under the bus as a smokescreen to hide obama’s guilt in this debacle.
Report Post »beekeeper
Posted on October 28, 2011 at 11:37pmAny chance this is an attempt to push off the COngressional investigation by claiming the matter is being reviewed by an outside auditor… Naw, that couldn’t be it…
I wonder when they are going to review the blizzard of loans approved merely hours before the “green energy loans” program expired Sept. 30th…
Report Post »spreadcommonsensenot pc
Posted on October 28, 2011 at 11:35pmThis is like a“turd” looking around for its OWN stink……………..
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on October 29, 2011 at 2:41amI think they are as nuts as a squirrels turd for thinking that we are going to fall for this one. So if they start the investigation will they have an opportunity to fix the records?
Report Post »David Zuckerman
Posted on October 28, 2011 at 11:12pm“The White House on Friday ordered an independent review of several loans made…”. Yea, independent all right! Keep the serious proof covered up and the incrimination independent from the White House! A lot of investigating and assessing going on directed to the present and future, and not enough directed to the past. The bunch of GD blatantly self-serving obnoxiously arrogant stomach wrenching traitors. I’m talking about those above Obama, Obama himself, those below Obama and those who are in a position to uncover the myriad of crimes and do NOTHING! NOTHING! They can talk all they want, report the small stuff, and slap wrists…but they do NOTHING to stop or persecute for all of the serious deceitful misdoings. Round them all up and someone get me a rope. THAT would be justice served.
Report Post »nobull14
Posted on October 28, 2011 at 10:40pmJust another way to cover up Obamas moron administration blowing tax payer money with nothing to show for it?????? at least in the 1930′s FDR built dams and road projects !!!!!! at least we had some thing to show for the money spent. This Idiot should be Impeached
Report Post »Cold War Vet
Posted on October 28, 2011 at 9:56pmOh goody. The White House is going to look into it’s own scandal! That is how Obama is running his administration. Innocent, until he declares himself innocent…
The administration’s criminal filth got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. $535 million of our taxpayer money given to Solyndra and their green/union criminal embezzlers, as payback for them supporting his 2008 campaign, before ramming their failed venture into the ground and putting over 1000 workers out on the street. And let’s not forget LightSquared and the Finnish electric car deal.
This pretty much sums up Obama’s Green Jobs plan. Now he wants us to buy into his so-called “jobs bill”, another doomed stimulus package/tax swindle which is so corrupt and so vile, his own party won’t touch it with a ten-foot pole. But he’s having a field day blaming republicans for opposing it. He even got his pet moron Joe Biden to make that now-infamous “rape and murder” threat. No thanks.
Report Post »Banter
Posted on October 28, 2011 at 9:40pmWhere are all of our comments from this story Blaze, when it was first published????????????????
Report Post »Thevoice
Posted on October 28, 2011 at 10:10pmReally ….wondering the same….
Report Post »Banter
Posted on October 28, 2011 at 10:22pmYea, I guess Becket Adams got a call from someone. What didn’t your handlers like Adams?
Report Post »ProbIemSoIver
Posted on October 28, 2011 at 11:41pmNow we have a Solyndra Article Scandal.
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