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    White House rebuffs subpoena on failed solar firm

    Associated Press (AP) — The White House on Friday strongly rebuffed a subpoena from House Republicans seeking all communications about a failed solar panel manufacturer that received a half-billion dollar federal loan guarantee.

    In a letter to two top Republicans on the House energy panel, White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler said the request "was driven more by partisan politics than a legitimate effort to conduct a responsible investigation."

    The White House and the Energy Department have already turned over 85,000 pages of documents on Solyndra Inc. The California-based company filed for bankruptcy and laid off 1,100 workers after receiving $528 million in federal backing.

    Ruemmler said those documents show no wrongdoing or political favoritism by the administration. She added that curiosity alone is not a justification to encroach on the Executive Branch's longstanding confidentiality interests.

    House Republicans have used Solyndra to highlight what they see as President Barack Obama's failure to create clean energy jobs. The company was the first to receive a federal loan guarantee under the 2009 stimulus law, which greatly expanded the program. Obama visited the company last year to praise it publicly.

    Documents already obtained by the committee show that the administration knew the firm had problems, yet continued to support it.

    On Thursday, a subcommittee of the energy panel voted on party lines to issue the subpoena, calling the White House "obstructionist."

    House Energy and Commerce chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said in a statement issued Friday that he was disappointed that the White House and House Democrats were continuing to put up "partisan roadblocks to hide the truth from taxpayers," when, he said, the investigation so far has shown that the GOP is on the right track.

    "Solyndra was a jobs program gone bad, and we must learn the lesson of Solyndra as we work to turn our economy around and put folks back to work," he said.

    ___

    Follow Dina Cappiello on Twitter (a)dinacappiello

     
    • BlakeR  •  6 mths ago
      Transparency? Freedom of Information Act?
      • spring 6 mths ago
        Obama doesn't think laws are made for him. He also doesn't believe in keeping promises.
      • William 6 mths ago
        Obama didn't approve the loan , congress and the senate did.
      • Ken 6 mths ago
        Incorrect, William. The DOE approved the loan.
    • Robert S  •  Oklahoma City, United States  •  6 mths ago
      "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of larceny......"
      • Dmnshnlz1 6 mths ago
        You wild animal!!!! That was too cool! Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!! How about Obama's new movie about green energy companies that fail, called 'Swindlers list'
      • Buttonpusher 6 mths ago
        Good one.LMAO two or three times
      • M9 6 mths ago
        Or Barackalpse Now Movie

        Obamageddon 2013
    • Mike  •  Greensboro, United States  •  6 mths ago
      There is not, and can never be a President or administration that is above the law of the land.
      • Farm 6 mths ago
        This is peanuts, $500 million, compared to the $2.4 TRILLION that Donald Rumsfeld announced "went missing" from the Pentagon on 09/10/2001! Why aren't you crying about that?
      • Farm 6 mths ago
        You have no idea how corrupt the entire government is.
      • Chris C 6 mths ago
        Ever heard of executive privilege? Bush invoked executive privilege "in substance" in refusing to disclose the details of Vice President Dick Cheney's meetings with energy executives, which was not appealed by the GAO.
    • Virginian  •  Lynchburg, United States  •  6 mths ago
      the crook in chief Obama,should have an audit of his banking account,A man that was broke less than 10 years ago is now worth millions and has not worked a day in his life,or porvided a service,were did all the money come from,
      • Robert 6 mths ago
        Muslim Middle Eastern countries ?
    • Applesandoranges  •  Cleveland, United States  •  6 mths ago
      so. what are they hiding this time
    • AZ Cowboy  •  Phoenix, United States  •  6 mths ago
      Everyone in goverment forgets one thing. They were elected by the poeple to work for the people. We pay their salaries, pay for their gas, limos, security their meals their cushy perks all compliments of us the American tax payers. Either start fixing things or YOUR FIRED.
      • Kevin D 6 mths ago
        And yet they keep getting reelected. Why? Because when people vote its always the other politicians that are corrupt. Their representatives and senators? They are saints. Usually because they bring lots of government money to their states or districts. So I guess yea, they are working for the people. THEIR people.
      • Gary 6 mths ago
        And then, every single elected official that has signed his pathetic no tax pledge should be given a choice- either publicly disavow the pledge or be expelled from office for violating their Constitutional oath of office.
      • Telephone Tough Guy 6 mths ago
        Finally, Kevin, someone else who gets it.
    • SmallerGovernmentIsGood  •  Sacramento, United States  •  6 mths ago
      Obama and his dumbocrats are the "real" party of "NO"!
    • andyp  •  Atlanta, United States  •  6 mths ago
      Once again we see a display of how the President and his A.G. are above the law enforced on the people of America.
    • BobD  •  Chatsworth, United States  •  6 mths ago
      For me, one of the larger questions here is:
      Why are there 85,000 pages of documents on Solyndra?
      How much time and effort (and therefore $) was wasted in
      generating all that useless paper?

      Can you spell 'Massive Waste of Taxpayer money'? I'll bet you can!!!

      And it may just well be that there are more documents. You know, the ones
      that might be incriminating!

      All this should make you want to tear your hair out no matter which political party
      you have signed up to.
    • Gargantuone  •  6 mths ago
      The Administration of Transparency
    • steve  •  6 mths ago
      So much for the "most transparent administration ever". Can't wait for 2012
    • Richard3  •  Oneonta, United States  •  6 mths ago
      You voted for Barry in 2008 to prove you're not racist.
      Vote against Barry in 2012 to prove you're not stupid.
    • PreciousMetals  •  6 mths ago
      Obama: #$%$ transparency and #$%$ the American people! What a shame!
    • Free Fire Wire  •  6 mths ago
      Isn't it strange that stories like this always seem to come out on Fridays when the White House comment lines are closed?
    • Kevin K  •  6 mths ago
      If the Bush Administration knew that the company was heading to failure by 2011, how could the Obama Administration not know?
    • Win or Lose with Honor  •  Livonia, United States  •  6 mths ago
      OK - I don't care who you are or what you are or what political party you have a love for - this was tax payer money and those records should be open to all of us, not just the Republicans - this is about 528 million dollars the taxpayers paid and about 1,100 jobs that are no longer there - the government went after the banks and financial insitutions which they were right to do - why does this company not have to show all its records? - C'mon Obama, you promised an open era when you took office - since you have been in office there has been cover-up after cover-up - what gives? - if there is nothing to hide, then get those records out NOW before they can be doctored - Personally I am tired of all the lies and half-truths. We, the people are smart enough to understand all the cover-ups, hidden agendas, and secrecy imparted on we citizens - enough is enough!
    • mememe  •  6 mths ago
      He can't rebuff a subpoena if we can't.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  West des Moines, United States  •  6 mths ago
      The White House is strongly rebuffing a subpoena from House Republicans seeking all communications about a failed solar panel manufacturer that received a half-billion dollar federal loan guarantee.

      I wonder what they are hiding? Hurry shred the documents, burn the files, erase the tapes.
    • Old Fezziwig  •  Irvine, United States  •  6 mths ago
      President Obama promised his administration would be an administration of "transparency." Sadly, that was just another one of his lies.
    • sdfsdfadsf  •  6 mths ago
      500 million dollar pay offs / campaign donations. Thousands of U.S. automatic weapons to the Cartels , and protecting Freddie / Fannie who hold half of all foreclosures and are the only bank that hasn't paid dime one back of their bail out wind fall.
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