Power Lines: Obama Picking More Losers than Winners
February 9, 2012

The President’s policies have failed and are making the economy worse.  Because the President clearly cannot stand on his record, he has regrettably turned to the politics of envy and division.  Solyndra, the solar power company that went bankrupt after receiving $535 million from the federal government through a stimulus loan guarantee, is not the only example of companies that the Obama Administration has propped up with the use of the hard earned tax dollars of the American worker. 

Fisker Automotive, a luxury electric car producer, has halted work in their auto factory, laying off 26 workers in Delaware and 40 to 45 engineers in California, because it has run out of government money and neglected to meet necessary benchmarks of progress.  The U.S. Energy Department has blocked access to its federal loan, citing these unmet milestones.

The U.S. awarded Fisker $528 million for the engineering and production of two vehicles, and as of today, Fisker has drawn down $193 million from its federal loans.  According to a USA Today article, Fisker failed to meet production and sales milestones it had promised in the loan agreement with the Department of Energy, so loan cash was shut off.  That’s when their layoffs began. 

However, Fisker Automotive is not the only beneficiary of federal money to recently go belly-up.  In 2011, Beacon Power, an energy storage company that received $43 million in stimulus funds, went bankrupt.  By the start of the New Year, more stimulus backed energy companies were showing signs of failure.  In January, 2012, Evergreen Energy, a manufacturer of renewable energy components, filed for bankruptcy.  Ener1, a manufacturer of batteries for electric vehicles, who received $118 million in stimulus funds, also filed for bankruptcy in January, 2012.  Amonix, Inc., a manufacturer of solar panels that received $5.9 million from the stimulus, recently announced its plan to cut two-thirds of its workforce after opening a factory in mid-2011.   

House Republicans have a Plan for America’s Job Creators that is focused on continuing efforts to turn around the Obama economy.  House Republicans approved legislation that addresses the real drivers of our debt and included fundamental pro-growth tax reform, eliminating the corporate loopholes and subsidies to help create more job opportunities like Keystone, and end taxpayer-funded bailouts like Solyndra. 

For questions or further information contact Sarah Makin