Today, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing on new legislation, the “No More Solyndras Act,” offered by Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL).  The legislation would seek to ensure that taxpayers are never again stuck paying hundreds of millions of dollars because of the Obama administration’s or any future president’s risky bets.

During today’s hearing, the Acting Executive Director of the Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Program Office, David G. Frantz, proclaimed the program responsible for Solyndra as an “enormous success.”  According to the Energy and Commerce Committee, this claim “comes just one week after Abound Solar became the latest loan recipient to announce bankruptcy.  With the bankruptcies starting to pile up, and taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars, the Obama DOE’s definition of success is cause for concern.”

The “No More Solyndras Act” would accomplish the following:

• Effectively phase out DOE’s flawed loan guarantee program under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 by prohibiting DOE from issuing any loan guarantees under Title XVII for applications submitted after December 31, 2011;

• Grandfather in applicants and projects that are already pending in the queue and/or have received conditional commitments but have not yet been issued a loan guarantee;

• Provide additional protections to any new guarantee issued for an existing application by providing that no guarantee be made until the Secretary of Treasury has made a written recommendation to DOE on the merits of the guarantee;

• Require DOE provide a detailed explanation to Congress if a loan guarantee does not conform to a Treasury recommendation;

• Require DOE to provide a report to Congress detailing the following information for any new guarantees issued to an existing applicant: (i) the review and decision-making process utilized by DOE in issuing the guarantee; (ii) the terms of the guarantee; (iii) the recipient; and (iv) the technology and project; and

• Prohibit DOE from restructuring the terms of any guarantee unless they first consult with Treasury. 

As America’s families struggle to pay the price of a gallon of gas and high electricity bills, the only energy legacy that President Obama seems to be interested in is one that funnels hardworking taxpayer dollars to “green” energy firms run by his political allies, like Solyndra.  House Republicans understand that Americans deserve better.

 For questions or further information contact Sarah Makin