House Republicans vote to subpoena White House over solar loan guarantee

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted Thursday to subpoena the White House for documents associated with an Energy Department loan guarantee to a California solar company.

The Oversight and Investigations subcommittee voted 14-8 along party lines to subpoena the White House Office of Management and Budget for documents related to DOE’s 2009 $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra Inc. The loan guarantee helped finance the construction of a new plant to manufacture solar panels.
 
Republicans on the subcommittee launched an investigation into the loan guarantee after Solyndra canceled plans to go public and closed down an existing plant.

As part of the investigation, Republicans in March requested a slew of documents related to the loan guarantee. They say OMB has not provided all of the requested documents.

But Democrats alleged Thursday before the vote that Republicans are moving too quickly on the subpoena, arguing GOP lawmakers have not given OMB enough time to comply with their request. Democrats also said Republicans have no reason to believe that the administration erred in authorizing the loan guarantee.

“There’s no evidence of OMB impropriety and OMB has been attempting to meet the committee’s needs,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the full committee.
   
Rep. Diana DeGette (Colo.), the ranking Democrat on the Oversight panel, said she supports Republicans right to request documents.

“Every single person supports appropriate document production,” she said. “Nobody is trying to block any sort of investigation.”

But she said OMB is struggling to comply with the size and scope of Republicans’ document request.

Rep. Cliff Steans (R-Fla.), the chairman of the Oversight panel, said Thursday that Republicans requested from OMB “all documents in its possession relating to Solyndra, such as internal reports or analyses, and all communications relating to the deal.”

Stearns said OMB allowed Republican staff to view a series of documents. But the documents did not meet the committee’s request.

“I can only conclude that after four months, and extensive efforts to obtain these documents, that OMB does not intend to produce them voluntarily,” Stearns said Thursday in his opening statement.

In a letter to Stearns this week, OMB said it "made available" 1,400 pages of emails and attachments to the panel.

Solyndra said Thursday that its financial outlook is strong. CEO Brian Harrison, in a statement, said the company is “growing rapidly."

—Ben Geman contributed to this story.