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Rep. Ryan: Calculate the true cost of Energy Dept. loan guarantees
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is wading into the politically charged issue of Energy Department loan guarantees.
Ryan urged the head of an independent probe of the department’s loan programs this week to re-examine the risk associated with the department's loan guarantees, arguing that the costs to taxpayers are being understated.
Ryan called on Allison to include in his final report “a fair-value estimate of the cost to taxpayers of the DOE loan guarantee programs” that reflects market risk.
“Americans deserve the most honest, accurate assessment of how Washington spends their hard-earned tax dollars,” Ryan said in the letter.
Ryan’s letter comes as Allison, at the direction of White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, is conducting an investigation into the Energy Department’s loan programs. Daley called for the investigation in October, almost two months after Solyndra, the California solar panel maker that received a $535 million Energy Department loan guarantee in 2009, filed for bankruptcy.
Allison's 60-day review got under way this week.
Republicans have pounced on the bankruptcy, raising broader questions about the Energy Department’s loan programs. Beacon Power, a Massachusetts-based energy storage company that received a loan guarantee from the department, filed for bankruptcy in October.
Ryan has been critical of the Solyndra loan guarantee, but this week’s letter marks the first time that the powerful chairman has confronted the loan guarantee issue. Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are conducting a wide-ranging investigation of the Solyndra loan guarantee.
Rep. Paul Ryan letter to Herb Allison
