Rep. Shimkus criticizes Obama for defending Solyndra loan: 'I can't believe he said that'

A top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee criticized President Obama Monday night for defending the administration’s decision to grant a $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, the now-bankrupt California solar company.

“I can’t believe he said that,” Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), who chairs the panel’s Environment and the Economy Subcommittee, said in an interview Monday night on Fox Business Network.

“He needs to look at the timeline and ask [Energy Secretary Steven] Chu what actually went on because if he knew the information that we know, he would never make that statement.”

Obama said in an interview Monday that he does not regret holding up Solyndra as a model for jobs and clean energy.

"No, I don't, because if you look at the overall portfolio of loan guarantees that have been provided, overall it's doing well,” he said.

“It went through the regular review process, and people felt like this was a good bet,” Obama said later, adding that “there are going to be some failures” in the Energy Department’s loan guarantee program and that Solyndra is an example.

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are conducting an investigation into the Solyndra loan guarantee. They’ve alleged that the Obama administration missed a series of red flags that hinted at the company’s financial problems.

Lawmakers on the panel have released a series of internal emails that they say that the White House rushed a final decision on the financing so that Vice President Biden could announce approval of the loan guarantee at the September 2009 groundbreaking for the company’s new factory.

Democrats on the panel released a memo Monday showing that administration officials raised concerns about Solyndra’s financial outlook in the months after the Energy Department approved the loan guarantee in 2009. But Energy Department officials initially downplayed the concerns.

The White House has strongly denied any wrongdoing related to the Solyndra laon guarantee.

Solyndra filed for bankruptcy in early September and laid off 1,100 workers.