The Week Ahead: Officials to defend Obama’s energy budget request

Top Obama administration officials will appear before Congress this week to explain — and defend — the energy and environmental provisions in President Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget request.

Obama will deliver his budget request to Congress on Monday. Observers will be watching for the administration’s investments in green energy, oil-and-gas production and nuclear energy, among other things.

The budget request comes as Obama’s investments in green energy are coming under attack by Republicans in Congress, who cite the September collapse of California solar-panel-maker Solyndra, which received a $535 million loan guarantee from the administration in 2009.

Lawmakers are expected to continue weighing in this week on the independent review of the Energy Department’s loan program.

Then-White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley called for the review in October, amid ongoing Republican criticism of the loan program spurred by Solyndra’s collapse.

The review — which was led by Herb Allison, the former Treasury Department official who oversaw the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) — found that the taxpayer faces less risk from the loans than the Energy Department and Congress previously estimated.

But it also made a number of recommendations aimed at ensuring that the government’s investments are better protected. The report calls on the Energy Department to establish an “early warning system” to identify problems with loans and to improve management of the program.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu might get some questions about the report when he testifies on his department’s budget request Thursday in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Chu will also discuss the budget request Monday at the Energy Department.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will testify Wednesday on his department’s budget request in front of the House Natural Resources Committee and on Thursday in front of the House Appropriations Committee.

There are several other energy-related events this week:

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a field hearing Monday in Corpus Christi, Texas, titled, “Exploring all the Energy Options and Solutions: South Texas as a Leader in Creating Jobs and Strengthening the Economy.”

A House Natural Resources subcommittee will examine energy development on tribal land Wednesday. The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing Thursday on private-sector views of the Obama administration’s “regulatory climate.”