[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 126 (Tuesday, September 18, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         NO MORE SOLYNDRAS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 14, 2012

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 6213) to 
     limit further taxpayer exposure from the loan guarantee 
     program established under title XVII of the Energy Policy Act 
     of 2005:

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Chair, contrary to all the rhetoric around this 
legislation, H.R. 6213 does not terminate the Title 17 loan guarantee 
program. In fact, when Republicans were offered a chance to end this 
Bush-era initiative in the Energy and Commerce Committee, the motion 
failed by a vote of 3-39.
  Instead, H.R. 6213 retains the $34 billion of existing loan guarantee 
authority--and then arbitrarily limits the competition for that 
authority to the roughly 50 projects that had submitted their 
applications before the end of 2011. In other words, under this bill, a 
loan guarantee commitment can be issued in 2020 to a company that 
applied in 2010--but any better, cheaper or more promising proposal 
that arises between now and then need not apply.
  This is the worst kind of governing by bumper sticker, and it has 
unfortunately become emblematic of the Republican majority in the 112th 
Congress.
  Mr. Chair, we can and should be investing in clean energy. We simply 
cannot afford to cede this rapidly growing market to the Chinese and 
other international competitors. In that regard, the Title 17 loan 
guarantee program has caused tens of billions of dollars in private 
capital to be invested in clean energy projects. It has helped double 
renewable energy generation. It has created 60,000 jobs and saved over 
300 million gallons of gasoline. And it has done all of this with a 
default rate of 3 percent, which is less than the half the default rate 
in the federal student loan program whose current interest rates a 
bipartisan majority in this House recently voted to extend.
  It is time to stop demagoguing and time to start governing. I urge a 
no vote.

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