Two House Subcommittees hold a joint hearing to discuss two bills aimed at ending the government's loan guarantee programs for green energy projects.
The Subcommittee on Energy and Power and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will discuss a bill, which Republicans call the “No More Solyndras Act,” that attempts to stop the Energy Department (DOE) from granting loan guarantees for any applications received after the end of 2011.
DOE Loan Program Office Acting Executive Director David Frantz and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency Kathleen Hogan testified on the first panel. Representative from energy policy groups comprise the second panel followed by energy company heads in a final panel.
GOP Committee members pressed the witnesses on the White House's current programs to back green energy companies.
Questions focused on Solyndra, a solar power company that got more than $535 million in loan guarantees from the federal government. President Obama visited the company's factory in Fremont, California, in May 2010, to express support for their efforts to create "green" jobs. Solyndra filed for bankruptcy and laid off over 1,000 workers at the end of August 2011. The FBI later raided their headquarters.