MORE INVESTIGATING OF THE LOANS

White House Orders Review of Energy Department’s Loan Program
Mike Dorning and Jim Snyder, October 28, 2011 (Bloomberg News)

"The Obama administration ordered a review of the Energy Department’s loan program as House Republicans consider subpoenaing more White House records about a guarantee for failed solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC…The analysis, to be conducted by former Treasury official Herbert Allison, will look at the department’s loan portfolio and focus on future monitoring and management…

"The Energy Department’s $535 million loan guarantee for Solyndra in 2009 has become the focus of a political controversy and a congressional investigation after the Fremont, California- based company filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 6…The administration has repeatedly defended its efforts to support development of alternative energy sources since Solyndra’s collapse. Obama has cited the need to compete with China’s investment in clean-energy technology."

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"Energy Secretary Steven Chu said… the department’s loan programs ‘are putting thousands of Americans to work’ and will help the U.S. compete for clean- energy jobs. Chu said he welcomed the review and directed staff to cooperate…The energy panel has been investigating the Solyndra loan since February…Solyndra made cylindrical thin-film solar panels and it used the loan guarantee to build a manufacturing facility…The administration has already given Congress more than 70,000 pages of documents from federal agencies involved in the Solyndra loan guarantee…

"Allison, 68, was named by Obama in 2009 as assistant secretary of Treasury to oversee the Troubled Asset Relief Program. During the Bush administration, he was named president of Fannie Mae after it entered into government conservatorship in September 2008. He previously served as chairman and chief executive officer of TIAA-CREF, the largest retirement-plan manager for U.S. teachers… was chairman of Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign in the 2000 Republican primaries and…served as president and chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch…"