Republicans hope to shed more light on the Solyndra loan scandal tomorrow, when the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hear testimony from two White House officials involved in the now infamous $535 million loan guarantee to the now-defunct solar-panel manufacturer once hailed by President Obama as a “true engine of economic growth . . . leading the way toward a brighter more prosperous future.”
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In particular, the committee will seek to determine the extent to which Solyndra’s financial ties to major Democratic fundraiser George Kaiser may have played a role in the company’s receiving federally backed funds. According to a memo circulated by committee Republicans, the hearing will also examine the following questions:
Did the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) conduct a proper review of the Solyndra application?
Should the DOE and the OMB have anticipated some of the financial problems that Solyndra experienced, which resulted in bankruptcy?
Did the DOE and the OMB take adequate steps to protect taxpayers when it negotiated the terms and conditions of the Solyndra guarantee and its restructuring?
To that end, the committee will hear testimony from Jeffrey Zients, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Jonathan Silver, director of the loans program at the Department of Energy. Solyndra’s chief executive, Brian Harrison, and chief financial officer, W. G. Stover Jr., were invited to testify at Wednesday’s hearing but will be no-shows. According to a committee spokesman, both have committed to appear voluntarily next week. Since laying off its 1,100-employee work force and filing for bankruptcy on September 6, the company has been the the target of FBI raids on its manufacturing facility in Fremont, Calif., as well as on the homes of several of the company’s top executives, including Harrison.
The House committee, led by chairman Fred Upton (R., Mich.) and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R., Fla.), who chairs the oversight subcommittee, has been investigating Solyndra since February 2010, shortly before a PricewaterhouseCoopers audit found that the company’s lackluster financial situation raised “substantial doubts about its ability to continue” and forced Solyndra to cancel a $300 million initial public offering. Later that year, in light of the company’s financial troubles, DOE and two of Solyndra’s top investors entered negotiations to restructure the loan guarantee.
But the GOP’s interest in the company and its relationship with the White House date back well before that, to the initial stages of the loan’s authorization starting in 2008. “We smelled a rat from the start,” Upton said. “As the highly celebrated first stimulus loan guarantee awarded by the DOE, the $535 million loan for Solyndra was suspect from Day One.” The hearing should provide a glimpse into the administration’s decision-making process from the very moment President Obama took office.
A brief rundown:
The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (a.k.a. the “stimulus package”) allocated $6 billion for loan guarantees for companies invested in “green” technology, and Solyndra was the first company to receive a DOE loan paid for with stimulus money.
Since then, the DOE has issued 17 loan guarantees totaling $7.84 billion. On top of that, the department has commitments worth an additional $10.4 billion. The stimulus bill stipulated that to be eligible for funding, projects must begin construction no later than Sept. 30, 2011, meaning the DOE has about two weeks to pull the trigger on those loans. Republicans worry that, despite the Solyndra debacle, the administration will push ahead with the allocation of the remaining funds before the end of the month. Steve Isakowitz, chief financial officer at the DOE, said the department intended to close on all of the pending loans before that deadline. “With taxpayers potentially on the hook for this half-billion dollar bust, it’s time to sound the alarm about the remaining $10 billion in loan guarantees set to expire September 30,” Upton and Stearns said in a statement. “Let’s learn the lessons of Solyndra before another dollar goes out the door.”
If House hearings on the totally loused-up Guns-For-Gangsters program run by the Justice Department via ATF didn't generate outrage and marching in the street, hearings about this drier-than-sand topic isn't going anywhere either.
Where are the American people on this stuff? Whether it's simply inept bungling or something more sinister, why is there so little condemnation from folks?
Unexpressed anger can become depression. Are we too depressed to do anything about it? Are we going to mope right through the next election and drag ourselves through the days even as the current leaders in DC drag the country down? Is that what is happening?
The scandal that is "solar" wind panels, etc., is just the tip of the iceberg. The entire "green" agenda is a sham and an attempt to wipe out the fossil fuel industry. This is one of the greatest scams in the history of the world. How much more evidence do we need? Just ask the Spaniards, whom Obama is trying to emulate.
I'll give 10:1 odds that this is comparable to the Chrysler shut down process wherein the guy in charge's wife was Democratic treasurer/ money person - who identified who were Red and who were Blue dealers, then proceeded to shut down all the Red ones.
This was a payback loan, used in CA for various political/ union under the table deals with the Feds providing the cover of legitimacy through a Federal "green" loan. Contrast this with 24 armed Federal agents shutting down Gibson guitar (whose CEO is conservative) or using purportedly unauthorized wood from India.
Tell me the good 'ol power, corrupt Chicago politics isn't alive and well in the nation's capital and I'll call you a naive fool! The Obama Admin. is the most corrupt Administration in modern history. And yet the media has it's head in the sand.
How much money was given to DOE? If they only had 6-Billion in the stimulus for "green energy", how have they loned over 7-billion with an additional 10-billion to go out the door in 2-weeks?
You know that they are going to throw away the next 10-billion. No restraint will be used because it is "use it or lose it" time. Obama is in full campaign mode and will be "spreading the wealth" to his prospective donors!
It has become patently obvious that the vast bulk of these projects are actually a money laundering scheme. Obama "gives" you 500-million dollars (of someone else's money) and you give him $50,000 in campaign contributions. An Awesome return on investment for the Democrat donor. If you need more convincing, review Michele's salary history, looking at Barack's election history, also reviewing Federal money going to the hospital that she "worked" at. Don't forget to look for the employee that replaced her in that highly important, $250,000/year "job".
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! Obama is a corrupt Chicago style Marxist dirt bag. And again I say surprise! Stanley Kurtz had plenty of revealing dirt on Barack Hussein Obama (um, um, UM!) before the election that was ignored by the media. Of course he's laundering money. That's how he rolls. Look at Acorn and their ties to SEIU and Project Vote and all the other corrupt shells that Barack is involved in. How none of this has gone mainstream is enough to make a new conspiracy minded guy like me go nuts.
OK, this may seem trifling... just how much was Solyndra's CEO paid to run this company into the ground? Was it the same as the folks on the assembly line?
Of course, if Solyndra's product were such a good idea, it wouldn't need a subsidy, would it? Green technology is fine, just make the numbers work to appeal to the free market and your company will never be a liability to anyone.
Did Apple get federal loan guarantees for the iPod or iPad?
Here's an interesting turn of events--Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, in the midst of telling radio interviewers that Americans "don't deserve to keep all" of their money and other outrages, DOES say that Dems will not shirk from investigating the Solyndra mess.
AND it turns out the Bush admin's folks (who also got some contributions from the Solyndra people) voted to DENY the loan when it was brought to them--so there's no blaming Bush here:
SO.....here's a thought: Will this ever-growing scandal give some scared-by-Turner's-win Dems a way to try to throw Obama under the bus in an effort to save their own seats? Will we see them now loudly demand inquiries into this (and maybe Fast and Furious and the Gibson raids too) as a way of saying "Okay, so I voted for his socialist healthcare and economic plans, but at least I don't tolerate his crony capitalist scandals!"???
In short, Solyndra may give a lot of Dems an excuse to dump Obama, even if they moderate it by saying "Well, it was on his watch but not him personally" as a backpedal to any charges of "racism" that their more strident pals will throw.
The hearings may shed light on the scandal, but the mainstream media will do everything in their power to keep the damning truth from their viewers/readers.
Drip, drip, drip ... There's a good reason the White House is terrified of the Solargate scandal, several good reasons come to think of it ... External Link
On July 29, 2011 Solyndra sold both the Accounts Receivables and the Inventory of the company. Solyndra Financial (a subsidiary of SOL) was the seller. The purchaser was a newly formed company called Solyndra Solar II LLC. ...The company was organized in the State of Delaware one-day before the sale of significant assets of SOL.
I have information from a former Solyndra employee ... I believe that the following is factual...
"It seemed like the company had been hoarding panels in the last month. We were producing a great deal of material, but holding off on shipments.
"We were stacking up panels everywhere. Our old building was packed with them, but we had some huge orders in the works. Usually we shipped most of the material in the last week of the quarter, so this was not completely unusual.
"We had close to three months worth of panels and we were on track to sell about two hundred million this year. That works out to about fifty million in inventory."
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Did the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) conduct a proper review of the Solyndra application?
