Hartzler and House Pass "No More Solyndras Act"

Statement

Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (MO-4) and the U.S. House have approved the "No More Solyndras Act" to ensure American taxpayers are never again forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars into failed energy loan programs. The bill is named for Solyndra - a California solar panel manufacturer that went bankrupt after getting a $535 million federal loan guarantee.

"The failure of Solyndra left taxpayers on the hook for more than half a billion dollars," said Hartzler. "It is unconscionable that Americans who are already struggling to come up with the money to fill their gas tanks and pay other energy costs should have to foot the bill for President Obama's ill-conceived "green dream' fantasies."

"The failure of Solyndra is proof that Washington does not know best and should not be wasting tax money on failed companies to advance a political agenda," continued Hartzler. "It was wrong to skew the Department of Energy's loan guarantee program to support the Obama Administration's favored technologies and shift the financial risks from the program's participants to taxpayers."

"The Republican energy plan is an "all of the above' proposal that encourages use of oil, gas, coal, and other resources with which we have been blessed -- in addition to nuclear, wind, solar, and other alternative forms of energy," added Hartzler.

Under the legislation, the Department of Energy's flawed loan guarantee program will effectively be phased out by prohibiting the Department from issuing any Solyndra-type loan guarantees for applications submitted after December 31, 2011. The bill allows for the continuation of existing projects and those that have received conditional commitments by allowing them to remain eligible to pursue loan guarantees. Having passed the House, the bill is now headed to the Senate.

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