WASHINGTON — The Obama administration ordered a review of the Department of Energy’s loan program as House Republicans called a hearing to consider a new subpoena for White House records about a loan guarantee to failed solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC.
William Daley, President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, said the review will be run by Herbert Allison, who previously oversaw the Troubled Asset Relief Program in the Treasury Department. Allison was directed to report back with recommendations in 60 days.
“We are directing that an independent analysis be conducted of the current state of the Department of Energy loan portfolio, focusing on future loan monitoring and management,” Daley said Friday in a statement.
The Energy Department’s $535 million loan guarantee for Solyndra approved in 2009 has become the focus of a political row and a congressional investigation after the Fremont, Calif.-based company filed for bankruptcy protection Sept. 6.
In his statement, Daley said the administration remains committed to supporting development of alternative energy sources.
“While we continue to take steps to make sure the United States remains competitive in the 21st century energy economy, we must also ensure that we are strong stewards of taxpayer dollars,” he said.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement that the department’s loan programs “are putting thousands of Americans to work” and will help the United States compete for clean-energy jobs. Chu said he welcomed the review and directed staff to cooperate to ensure it’s “thorough and productive.”
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee called a hearing for Thursday to consider subpoenaing White House e-mails and documents about the process under which Solyndra got the guarantee.
“Subpoenaing the White House is a serious step that, unfortunately, appears necessary in light of the Obama administration’s stonewall on Solyndra,” Reps. Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican and chairman of the committee, and Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican who leads the committee’s investigations panel, said Friday in a statement.
The energy panel has been investigating the Solyndra loan since February. In July, the committee subpoenaed documents from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, responsible for weighing the risks of issuing Solyndra the guarantee, which was part of the president’s economic stimulus.
Solyndra made cylindrical thin-film solar panels and itused the loan guarantee to build a factory. Republicans cited Solyndra’s closing of an old factory and its June 2010 decision to cancel a $300 million initial share offering as signs the company may not have been qualified for the U.S. guarantee.
Since then, Upton and Stearns have raised questions about whether Solyndra got favorable treatment because of connections to political donors, which the White House has denied.
The FBI also began an investigation into Solyndra’s loan application.
The administration has already given Congress more than 70,000 pages of documents from federal agencies involved in the Solyndra loan guarantee, Kathryn Ruemmler, counsel to Obama, said in a letter Tuesday to Upton and Stearns denying for a second time in a month their request for internal documents.
Satisfying the demand would interfere with the ability of the president’s advisers to engage in “candid deliberations,” Ruemmler wrote in the letter.
“We believe agency communications with the White House are the best source of information to accommodate the committee’s interest in this matter,” she said.
Upton and Stearns said that “internal White House communications about a loan guarantee to a solar panel manufacturer” doesn’t raise issues of national security “or the other foundations upon which the Supreme Court has recognized” executive privilege.
In a statement, Allison said the administration recognizes the challenges in managing the energy loan programs.
“My goal is to assess the current financial state of the portfolio and to ensure effective monitoring and management of the loan portfolio going forward,” he said.
Allison, 68, also is the former president of Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association, and chairman and chief executive officer of TIAA-CREF, the largest retirement-plan manager for U.S. teachers. He was chairman of Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign in the 2000 Republican primaries and before that served as president and chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch & Co.
Information for this article was contributed by Joe Sobczyk of Bloomberg News.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 10/29/2011