“Wednesday’s Big Story”: Top Obama Administration Officials Face High-Profile Morning Battle With House Republicans Over “Full Blown” Solyndra Scandal

The Hill:

Wednesday’s Big Story: Top Obama administration officials are headed toward a high-profile clash Wednesday with House Republicans over the Energy Department’s decision to approve a $535 million loan guarantee for a now-bankrupt California solar panel company.

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee will hear Wednesday morning from officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Energy Department on the loan guarantee to Solyndra.

Committee Republicans have been skeptical about the loan guarantee for months and launched an investigation in February. But the late August news that Solyndra will suspend manufacturing, lay off 1,100 employees and file for bankruptcy has opened the flood gates of GOP criticism of the administration.

Republicans say the bankruptcy shows that the Obama administration’s green energy push — particularly DOE’s loan-guarantee program — is a failure.

Here’s a taste of what you might hear at Wednesday’s hearing:

“It’s a full-blown scandal because Solyndra was the poster child for the administration to give out money under the 2009 stimulus package,” Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said Tuesday during a speech at the Heritage Foundation.

“Unfortunately, the president in his mindset clings to the idea that he’s going to create jobs through solar panels and yet solar panels in themselves have not been an economic viability. He has this religious fervor that this whole country will create new jobs through this green industry when in fact it’s job losses that can occur.”

Republicans are widening the scope of their investigation into the Solyndra loan guarantee, which was issued in 2009 by the Energy Department under the stimulus law to help finance the construction of a new plant to manufacture solar panels. Stearns said he is examining a slew of other loan guarantees authorized by the Energy Department.

At the same time, Stearns is pressing the White House for more documents related to the loan guarantee and suggested Tuesday that Republicans would consider issuing a subpoena for them if the administration does not provide them. Republicans on the committee voted in July to subpoena OMB for documents related to the Solyndra loan guarantee.

Jeffrey Zients, deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and Jonathan Silver, executive director of the Energy Department Loan Programs Office, will testify Wednesday. Two Solyndra executives were slated to testify at the hearing, but they are now scheduled to appear before the subcommittee next week.