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| House GOP votes to subpoena White House Solyndra documents |
| 2011-11-03 |
| 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. The subpoena escalates the ongoing battle between the White House and Republicans over a $535 million Energy Department loan guarantee to Solyndra, the California solar panel maker that filed for bankruptcy in early September, setting off a firestorm in Washington. Republicans have pummeled the White House over the loan guarantee for weeks, using Solyndra’s bankruptcy to challenge the administration’s green-energy agenda. The committee’s investigative panel voted 14-9, along party lines, to subpoena the internal communications a day after the White House offered to provide documents if Republicans narrowed their request. Every Republican on the panel voted in favor of the subpoena and every Democrat voted against it. “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 point man 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.” In a statement, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said that the administration had "cooperated extensively" with the committee's request for documents. "All of the materials that have been disclosed affirm what we said on day one: this was a merit based decision made by the Department of Energy," he said. "We'd like to see as much passion in House Republicans for creating jobs as we see in this investigation," Schultz added. |
| Posted by:Beavis |