| Solyndra: A Big Bust Still Haunting The White House. |
| Aug-09-2012 |
| Keywords: obama, romney, ad, uncaring, scrutiny, backlash |
Recently uncovered emails are calling into question the president's assertion that loan guarantees made to the now bankrupt Solyndra were entirely the decision of the Energy Department.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, along with Subcommittee Chairmen Jim Jordan and Trey Gowdy, sent President Barack Obama a letter seeking answers and documents about the President's own involvement and knowledge of White House officials making decisions in the controversial Department of Energy Loan Program that used taxpayer funds to support companies including Solyndra.
In the letter the congressmen wrote, The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has obtained documents which raise questions about how your interactions with business leaders at political events affected decisions to give billions of taxpayer dollars in loan guarantees to green energy companies through the Department of Energy's ("DOE") 1705 Loan Guarantee Program."
Back in October of 2011, the president tried to distance himself and the White House from the decision making process that led to loan guarantees to the defunct solar panel company.
"I will tell you that even for those projects under this loan guarantee program that have ended up being successful, there are those in the marketplace who have been doubtful ... And all I can say is that the Department of Energy made these decisions based on their best judgment about what would make sense."
New documents cited in the committee's letter to the President, however, indicate the White House and President Obama were intimately involved.
• E-mails indicate that objections to a loan from President Obama's most senior economic advisors were overridden by then White House Chief of Staff William Daley.
• In June 2011, before Solyndra declared bankruptcy, President Obama requested a personal briefing on the loan guarantee program.
• Secretary of Energy Chu acknowledged in an e-mail that other Administration officials were concerned that loan applicants were receiving "unjust enrichment" from the program.
The letter sent by the House Oversight Committee requests that President Obama direct the White House Counsel's Office to produce information and documents including a full explanation of the President's involvement in the 1705 Loan Guarantee Program, energy projects that the President discussed at official and political events, and all White House records related or referring to the Loan Guarantee Program by August 21, 2012. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 4:00 PM Email to a friend |
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