Republicans Subpoena The White House Over Solyndra Docs

By Janie Amaya 

A House committee voted Thursday to subpoena the White House for documents regarding the Department of Energy’s $535 million loan to solar manufacturer Solyndra, Inc. 

The House Energy and Commerce Committee initially presented a request for the documents on Sept. 1 in which it asked the White House to produce all documents containing communications between the White House and Solyndra Inc., which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year despite the giant loan it received as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the “stimulus law.”

According to committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the White House Counsel’s office waited until Oct. 14 to tell the committee that it didn’t need to see such documents. However, House Republicans, who believe the White House rushed the loan while ignoring oversight, have forged ahead with their investigation.

During today’s markup of the resolution, which passed 14-9, Upton pointed to a statement from President Obama, who once said “the government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears.”  

“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,” Upton said.  

However, after meeting with the White House Counsel Wednesday, Democratic members of the committee argued against issuing a subpoena. The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), accused Republicans of using the issue as a political stunt.

“We should not be having this business meeting today,” he said. “A Congressional subpoena to the White House is a serious step. It should be the last resort. It is justified only if an unbridgeable impact between the branches has been reached. None of that is true today.”

White House spokesman Eric Schultz responded by saying the administration has already “cooperated extensively with the committee’s investigation by producing over 85,000 pages of documents, including 20,000 pages produced just yesterday afternoon.”

“We’d like to see as much passion in House Republicans for creating jobs as we see in this investigation,” he added. “We are disappointed that the committee has refused to discuss their requests with us in good faith, and has instead chosen a partisan route, proceeding with subpoenas that are unprecedented and unwarranted.”