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OVERNIGHT ENERGY: GOP set to escalate Solyndra battle with Obama
State of Play: House Republicans are set to subpoena the White House Thursday for additional Solyndra documents, the latest chapter in their ongoing investigation into the failed solar firm.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s investigative panel will meet at 9 a.m. to vote on a resolution to subpoena the White House for its internal communications related to the $535 million loan guarantee to the company, which filed for bankruptcy in early September.
Lawmakers met with White House
Democrats and Republicans on the committee met with White House
counsel Kathryn Ruemmler to discuss the document request and
upcoming subpoena vote.
"Unfortunately, despite these repeated efforts to negotiate document production without the need for a subpoena, the White House failed to produce internal White House documents related to Solyndra or answer basic questions about the documents," committee Republicans said in a statement Wednesday night, adding that the subpoena vote will continue as scheduled.
The committee's top Democrat, Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.), had been part of a behind-the-scenes effort Wednesday to reach an agreement, but it didn't come to pass.
“Rep.
Waxman believes a subpoena should be a last resort and that it is much
better to sit down and try to work out a mutual accommodation,” Waxman
spokeswoman Karen Lightfoot said in a statement earlier Wednesday.
Republicans are hoping to uncover evidence that politics played a role in the approval of the loan guarantee and the decision to restructure the loan in February.
The investigation has not uncovered evidence of political favoritism.
But emails released by Republicans show that the White House pressed administration officials to make a swift decision on helping Solyndra. They also show that there was disagreement within the administration on the wisdom of approving the loan guarantee.
The White House has strongly denied Republicans allegations that politics played a role in the Energy Department’s decision to approve the loan guarantee in 2009.
Administration releases more documents
The administration says it is cooperating fully with the Solyndra investigation, noting that the White House, its Office of Management and Budget, the Treasury Department and the Energy Department has provided more than 70,000 pages of documents to Republicans in recent months. The documents provided include communications between the White House and Solyndra.
On the eve of the vote, the Energy Department sent the committee more than 15,000 pages of Solyndra-related documents.
“The Department has now provided the committee with more than 80,000 pages of documents, participated in a full committee hearing, scheduled a hearing with Secretary [Steven] Chu and made more than half a dozen department officials available for briefings with committee staff beginning as early as March,” Energy Department spokesman Damien LaVera said in a statement.
“Despite all the allegations and insinuations, the record shows that the decisions related to this loan were made on the merits after extensive review by the loan program.”
Subpoena vote comes after White House rejected document request
Republicans scheduled the subpoena vote after the White House denied their request for all internal Solyndra documents.
Ruemmler, in a letter to the committee last month, said the documents that have already been provided by the administration “should satisfy the committee’s stated objective.”
“Your most recent request for internal White House communications from the first day of the current administration to the present implicates longstanding and institutional executive-branch confidentiality interests,” she said.
If Republicans vote to issue a subpoena, it would mark the second time that the committee has subpoenaed the Obama administration for Solyndra documents.
The subcommittee voted in July to subpoena OMB for documents related to the 2009 Energy Department loan guarantee to the company. The July subpoena was issued before Solyndra filed for bankruptcy and laid off 1,100 workers.
NEWS BITES:
Obama weighs in on solar trade case
President Obama commented Tuesday on a petition by a handful of solar manufacturers, which calls on the Obama administration to impose duties on Chinese solar imports.
The petition, which was filed last month with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission, alleges that China is illegally subsidizing its solar industry and “dumping” underpriced solar panels into the market.
Here’s what Obama told Portland’s KGW NewsChannel 8 in an interview Tuesday:
“We have seen a lot of questionable competitive practices coming out of China when it comes to the clean energy space, and I have been more aggressive than previous administrations in enforcing our trade laws. We have filed actions against them when we see these kinds of dumping activities, and we’re going to look very carefully at this stuff and potentially bring actions if we find that the basic rules of the road have been violated.”
GOP lawmaker: Kill auto-loan program
Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) wants to end the Energy Department program that provides loans to automakers and suppliers to help spur manufacture of green cars.
Flores is taking aim at the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program as $4 billion in funding remains unused.
His bill comes amid GOP attacks on Energy Department green-energy and auto-loan programs in the wake of the solar company Solyndra’s collapse.
“Repealing the ATVM loan program will preserve much-needed funds to support projects that have the best chance of providing middle-class jobs here at home in the near term. It will also ensure that funds are provided for an immediate need, rather than letting them sit idly by waiting for a careless and inefficient bureaucratic process that has made little progress in the past three years,” he said in a statement.
The program was created under a 2007 energy law signed by then-President George W. Bush, and Republicans including Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) have sought loans for auto companies in their states.
But more recently some loans under the program have come under fire, including a potential loan to high-strength steel manufacturer Severstal North America, and Flores also alleged that $4 billion is “sitting idle.”
Energy Department spokesman Damien LaVera criticized the bill, arguing the program has already created or saved tens of thousands of jobs. The first loans under the program were granted under the Obama administration.
“Two years ago, critics said we shouldn't be investing in advanced American auto manufacturing because the industry wouldn't survive. They were wrong then and they're wrong today. From well-established names like Ford to innovative startups like Tesla, America's auto industry is being reinvented, and the Department’s loan program is helping play an important role,” LaVera said.
ON TAP THURSDAY:
Energy Secretary to defend renewables investments
Energy Secretary Steven Chu will defend federal investments in green energy at a time of growing GOP attacks on loan guarantees and other financing.
Chu will appear at The Washington Post’s “smart energy” event alongside other experts.
Top commodities regulator to tout oil speculation curbs
The Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will hold a hearing on new Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules aimed at limiting “excessive” speculation in energy and other commodity markets.
The CFTC issued the controversial rules last month, and CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler will be the star witness at the hearing.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
Here's a quick roundup of Wednesday's E2 stories:
— House Republicans block attempt by Democrats to subpoena Gulf spill CEOs
— State Department confirms Keystone pipeline decision date could slip
— Lawmakers: Interior's work with Cuba-bound driller may be illegal
— Energy's IG: Goal of stimulus law unrealistic
— Multimillion-dollar ad buy hits Obama over Solyndra controversy
— Obama says he'll make the final decision on Keystone oil pipeline
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