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House Republicans to Probe Alleged Misconduct by Obama WH in Solyndra Loan
Yesterday we learned that green energy company Solyndra–the recipient of $535 million in loans from the Department of Energy in 2009–has shut its doors and filed for bankruptcy.
Now come some pretty serious allegations from House Republicans that the White House may have played a direct and inappropriate role in funneling taxpayer money to the failed company.
The allegation surfaced in a letter House Energy Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) sent to the White House Thursday night, saying he planned to accelerate efforts to understand an investment deal that may have left taxpayers out half a billion dollars.
“We have learned from our investigation that White House officials monitored Solyndra’s application and communicated with [Department of Energy] and Office of Management and Budget officials during the course of their review,” the letter says.
Thursday’s letter, which calls on the White House to turn over correspondence between administration officials, Solyndra and its investors, presents the most pointed suggestion that the White House had direct involvement in the financing.
“How did this company, without maybe the best economic plan, all of a sudden get to the head of the line?” Upton told ABC News in an interview this week. “We want to know who made this decision … and we’re not going to stop until we get those answers.”
Bottom line:
Republicans in Congress have raised questions for months about the Energy Department’s decision to make Solyndra the poster-child for the green energy loan program. They expressed concern that so much federal money was headed to a company whose key investor was George Kaiser, an Oklahoma billionaire who raised more than $50,000 for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
(h/t Instapundit)
Published in General
Hoo boy, I can’t wait to see the NYT non-coverage of this one.
Just what we need: yet another investigation by the House Select Committee to Investigate Everything.
I don’t understand the difference between giving this company money and what was supposedly done, gauranteeing the loans. Are we actually out the money, or does bankruptcy include them having to pay back the loans out of what may be left?
Meanwhile, I want to start an investigation into the lack of new podcasts available for me to download to the tractor for the weekend’s chores; hmmmMMM?!
See, crony socialism isn’t so different from crony capitalism after all. At least the crony capitalists usually make jobs that last a little longer.
Same plot, different venue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzF4N0StVes
What are the odds that a bunch of shareholder loans got paid off?
There are significant real estate holdings involved here. The question I have, before we assume a total write-off here, is where the IBEW gets placed, before bond holders. I really think we should pay attention to this aspect, because it is not as if there are no assets. Does Obama give the scraps to the unions (I am so sure this was a union shop, but do not know that)? Or do the taxpayers stand to recoup something from around $1.2 B in two different factories/land? I understand it is worthless California commercial land, but do we stand to get back anything?
This is weird beyond belief. Kaiser is the richest man in Oklahoma. Chairman, and I think majority owner of the Bank of Oklahoma, and owner of Kaiser-Francis oil company. So a billionaire oil-man/banker lines up to get low interest, non-recourse government loans.
I can understand Mr. Kaiser’s motives, but what in the world is the administration thinking?