House Panel Votes To Subpena White House Documents Related To Solyndra

It's not going away anytime soon.

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted Thursday to subpoena the White House for all internal communications related to the failed solar company Solyndra,

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“I regret that we have reached this point,” Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), the chairman of the committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee and the GOP’s pointman on the Solyndra investigation, said Thursday. “At this point in time, I am not confident that we will have a good faith response from the White House without issuing a subpoena.”

“Sometimes, in the course of an investigation, we find ourselves unable to secure necessary evidence,” full committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said. “House Rules expressly give us the power of subpoena to compel cooperation in these instances. It is a tool we use sparingly and only as a last resort. Today, it is our last resort.”

Yesterday, the Department of Energy's Inspector General testified before the committee about the massive waste and fraud that went on as part of Obama's Green Energy "stimulus".

He added that the under-resourced department faced a series of logistical obstacles in delivering money to companies such as Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy in September after receiving a $528-million government loan.

"The concept of 'shovel-ready' projects was not realized, nor, as we now have confirmed, was it a realistic expectation," Friedman said.

Even after department employees strained to quickly dispense loans that were not properly documented, Friedman said only 45% of the money allotted to DOE under the stimulus law has been spent. He attributed the inefficiency and slowness of loan distribution to a "diverse, complex, and often asymmetrical set of stakeholders," which included state and local officials, contractors and businesses.

Friedman said he could not comment specifically on the ongoing Solyndra investigation, but did say his office has launched more than 100 investigations of stimulus-funded companies that have recovered $2.3 million and resulted in five criminal prosecutions.

So clearly what he need is more wasteful "stimulus". It's what God would want.

posted by DrewM. at 11:02 AM

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