Stearns Comments on Reports that White House Plans Review of DOE Loan Guarantee Program in Wake of Solyndra Fiasco

Statement

Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) today responded to news reports that the White House is conducting a 60-day review of Energy Department loan guarantees in the wake of the high-profile bankruptcy of the program's first recipient, Solyndra. Energy and Commerce Committee leaders also announced the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations is preparing to hold a business meeting on Thursday, November 3, 2011, to consider a resolution authorizing the issuance of a subpoena for internal White House communications relating to the Solyndra loan guarantee.

Chairman Stearns made the following statement:

"In early October, when asked about the integrity of the DOE loan guarantee responsible for Solyndra, President Obama casually stated, "The nature of these programs are going to be ones in which, you know, for every success there may be one that does not work out as well.' With billions of dollars at stake, taxpayers cannot afford more Solyndras.

"Finally, officials at the White House are acknowledging that the program responsible for Solyndra may not have been the jobs program that was promised to the American people. This 60-day review would have been more sensible before billions of dollars in loans were rushed out the door in the program's final hours on September 30.

"We remain hopeful the administration's call to review the loan guarantee program will be different from previous internal reviews - like the regulatory reform and line-by-line reviews that the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee revealed as being merely PR campaigns without any real results.

"The selection of a former Treasury official is noteworthy as it was Treasury lawyers who expressed concern that Solyndra's loan restructuring was in violation of the law. Treasury's concerns with the legality of Solyndra's restructuring fell on deaf ears -- let's hope that will not happen again."

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