Republicans Subpoena The White House Over Solyndra Docs
Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 1:16PMBy 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.”
Lights out: America’s energy future
President Barack Obama’s massive energy overhaul may be cruising towards the edge of a cliff if the U.S. doesn’t start manufacturing more. Such was said today before Congress by Jeff Metts, President of Dowding Machining, a manufacturer of wind turbines.
Obama’s energy policy focuses on having 25 percent of the country’s electricity come from renewable sources of energy by 2025. The Senate has introduced a bill, S.661, which sets a slightly different standard: 20 percent by 2025. Mett doesn’t believe that the U.S. can manufacture enough wind turbines quickly enough to meet either of these goals at its current pace. He said that in 2008 the United States produced approximately 4,000 wind turbines, but that it would have to produce over 10,000 turbines each year until 2025 to meet the energy goal. There are several large logistical concerns to this process, including the cost of transporting these massive components and the time taken to manufacture each one. The transportation costs make it difficult for foreign production of the necessary parts.
Mett presented a solution to the manufacturing problem, which would cut the production time of certain components down to an eighth of what it would otherwise be. His company is seeking investors for new manufacturing plants in the United States to build these turbines quickly and efficiently. Mett said that the improvements manifest in his manufacturing process would be “game changers” in making clean energy, and that they will be the new standard around the world overnight. This would place the U.S. in a competitive advantage in the energy market. David Roders, representative from the Department of Energy, said that tight capital markets have made it difficult for industries to invest in energy efficiency. On that topic, Mett said that the problem with innovations like this is finding the first investor – he is asking the Federal government to be that ice breaker.
This manufacturing investment would be included in the comprehensive energy legislation the Senate is putting together. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said that the Senate Bill will invest in America’s energy future. It will help industries be more productive while using less energy, create millions of new jobs, and keep America in its position as “a top innovator of clean energy technologies.” The intended byproduct of this would be lowered greenhouse gas emissions, which should slow climate change.