House Republicans introduced a bill Tuesday to close the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) troubled loan guarantee program for green energy projects.
The bill is called the “No More Solyndras Act,” after the solar panel maker that received a $535 million loan guarantee in 2009 and collapsed in 2009. The legislation would forbid the DOE from granting loan guarantees for any applications received after last Dec. 31,
The Hill reports.
And the bill would tighten the rules for existing applications. The department currently is authorized to issue $34 billion worth of loan guarantees, according to the bill.
It’s sponsored by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., who led the committee's Solyndra investigation. The committee is holding a hearing on the bill Thursday.
Stearns said Monday evening that he wants a floor vote on the measure before Congress begins its August recess. “Our ‘No More Solyndras Act’ will ensure taxpayers are no longer vulnerable to the Obama administration’s game of crony capitalism,” he said in a statement Tuesday.
The plan may run into opposition from congressmen who want it reformed rather than dropped, such as Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Republicans are upset with the Solyndra debacle as well as the recent failure of Abound Solar, another company that received a DOE loan guarantee. Other DOE-backed companies have faced problems too, proving that Obama’s green energy policy is a loser, Republicans say.
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