|
 |
 |
|
Lawmaker expects Rahm Emanuel to testify on Solyndra
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) predicted Tuesday that Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel will be among a number of former and current White House officials called to testify about federal aid to the failed solar company Solyndra.
Barton, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told Texas radio station WBAP that the committee will continue probing Solyndra, which received a $535 million Energy Department loan guarantee in 2009 and went bankrupt almost three months ago.
Solyndra was the first company to receive an Energy Department loan guarantee and officials held up the firm as an example of administration efforts to bolster green energy businesses, but White House aides also fretted about its prospects.
The degree of Emanuel’s potential involvement in Solyndra remains unclear. Emanuel has said he does not recall talk of the Solyndra loan guarantee.
According to published reports, however, an August 2009 email from White House aide Aditya Kumar to other aides noted “[Klain] has talked to Rahm about this and feels Rahm wants this too (barring any concerns)—POTUS’s involvement was Rahm’s idea.”
Vice President Biden appeared via videoconference to tout the finalization of the loan guarantee in 2009, and President Obama toured the company and spoke there in May of 2010.
Barton, in the interview, didn’t name any specific White House aides beyond Emanuel, who resigned in October 2010 to run, successfully, for mayor of Chicago.
Emails disclosed through the GOP-led probe show aides who discussed Solyndra include former Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain, White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, energy aide Heather Zichal, and others.
A spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee's GOP leadership, when asked about Barton's comment, declined to say whether Emanuel and other White House aides might be asked to testify.
"Details for future hearings – including the range of potential witnesses – will be announced when they are available," the spokesman said.
An Energy and Commerce Committee panel, voting along party lines, has twice subpoenaed the Obama administration and has thus far received more than 185,000 pages of documents from the White House and various federal agencies.
But Barton told the radio station that more is needed. “The White House has released some documents and emails but not anywhere near what in my opinion they should,” he said.
Republicans are focusing on both the decision to issue the loan guarantee and its early 2011
restructuring, which occurred as the company was struggling,
that put private investors who provided additional funds ahead of the
government for repayment if the company collapsed.
The GOP has used Solyndra to bash administration green energy financing, and alleged that the White House exerted undue political influence over the Solyndra loan guarantee. They have noted in particular that the foundation of George Kaiser, a top Obama fundraiser, was a major investor in the project.
But the White House strongly denies the loan guarantee was a political reward, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu said at a hearing this month that decisions about Solyndra were not influenced by politics. So far, Republicans have not uncovered evidence that the loan guarantee was issued for political reasons.
—Updated at 1:05 p.m. and 2:09 p.m.
