GOP rejects Dems’ call for Energy Department witness at Solyndra hearing

By Ben Geman - 10/13/11 05:32 PM ET

House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans are rebuffing a Democratic request to have an Energy Department (DOE) witness at Friday’s hearing on the failed solar panel company Solyndra.

“We will have many questions for DOE officials at an appropriate time very soon as there is great cause for alarm on a wide range of issues,” said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), chairman of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee that’s holding the hearing.

Republicans called Treasury Department witnesses to testify. The hearing follows disclosure of emails showing that senior Treasury officials expressed concern that DOE’s early 2011 restructuring of Solyndra’s half-billion dollar loan guarantee might have been illegal and that the Justice Department should have been consulted.

The restructuring put private investors, who agreed to pitch in an additional $75 million, ahead of the government for repayment if the struggling company defaulted. Solyndra collapsed in late August and filed for bankruptcy in early September.

Republicans have attacked this “subordination” of the federal interest, alleging it was illegal, while the Energy Department has strongly pushed back against the allegation, and notes that DOE attorneys vetted the restructuring.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the energy committee’s top Democrat, on Wednesday had asked GOP committee leaders to add a DOE witness. “To understand the communications between Treasury and DOE and DOE’s legal analysis regarding subordination, the Subcommittee should have both Department of Energy and Treasury representatives at the witness table on Friday,” his letter Wednesday stated.

Stearns, however, took a shot at Democrats in rejecting the request.

“Regarding last minute requests to have DOE testify tomorrow, I would note that when Jonathan Silver – the recently departed DOE official behind the restructuring – testified on September 14th, Democrats were conspicuously mum on DOE’s violation of the law,” Stearns said in a statement.