[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14120]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         NO MORE SOLYNDRAS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Stearns) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, later today, we will 
begin debate on the rule for H.R. 6213, the No More Solyndras Act, 
which, along with my chairman, Fred Upton of Michigan, I am proud to 
sponsor. This legislation is a culmination of an intensive and thorough 
18-month investigation by the Subcommittee on Oversight and 
Investigations, which I chair, and will fix the problems we have 
uncovered.
  Specifically, the No More Solyndras Act will phase out the Department 
of Energy's grossly mismanaged loan guarantee program by prohibiting 
DOE from issuing any loan guarantees for applications submitted after 
December 31, 2011, and it will provide taxpayers strong, new protection 
for any pending participants in this program.

                              {time}  1050

  The bill provides greater loan guarantee transparency by requiring 
the DOE to report to Congress on the decisionmaking process, and, of 
course, the details of the loan. The bill also prohibits DOE from 
restructuring the terms of any guarantee and forbids the subordination 
of United States taxpayers' dollars at any time to private investors 
and holds the Department of Energy officials accountable for their 
actions by imposing penalties by failing to follow this law.
  As many of you know, Solyndra was the first recipient of a DOE loan 
guarantee from title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and, 
frankly, was the poster child for President Obama's stimulus-driven 
green economy. It was also the first stimulus-backed recipient of a DOE 
loan guarantee to file for bankruptcy just 2 years after the loan 
closed, and 6 months after DOE restructured the loan and subordinated 
taxpayers' interest to two wealthy and well-connected investors, all 
but ensuring taxpayers won't see a dime.
  Other DOE loan recipients have also struggled. Three of the first 
five companies which received loan guarantees issued by the DOE Loan 
Guarantee program--Solyndra, Beacon, and Abound Solar--have all filed 
for bankruptcy, losing hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers' 
money that will never, ever be recovered. The other two companies are 
struggling, also. Nevada Geothermal has substantial debts and no 
positive cash flow, and First Wind had to withdraw their planned IPO 
and also has substantial debt to boot.
  On behalf of the American taxpayers, we had a duty to figure out what 
went wrong with Solyndra, the loan guarantee, and whether the loan 
guarantee program was properly managed. The Solyndra investigation has 
been thorough and methodical. The Energy and Commerce Committee 
requested and received and reviewed documents from every executive 
branch agency connected to Solyndra, and interviewed more than a dozen 
administration officials who played key roles in the loan guarantee 
program. The committee has also reviewed documents produced by the 
Solyndra investors, as well as DOE's independent consultant and their 
legal advisers.
  As the committee's investigation revealed, the Obama administration 
put Solyndra's loan on the fast track for political reasons, despite 
repeated red flags and warnings in 2009 from the Office of Management 
and Budget and DOE officials about the company's financial condition in 
the market for Solyndra's product. Were they viable? It is clear that 
DOE failed to adequately monitor the loan guarantee, blindly writing 
checks to Solyndra as the company hemorrhaged cash throughout the year 
2010.
  When the warnings came to fruition and Solyndra was out of cash in 
the autumn of 2010, the Obama administration doubled down on its bad 
debt and bad bet, restructuring Solyndra's loan in early 2011 and 
putting wealthy investors at the front of the line in front of 
taxpayers, which is a clear violation of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. 
Right up to the bankruptcy filing, the administration was willing to 
take extraordinary measures to keep Solyndra afloat for political 
reasons and ensure that the first loan guarantee was not going to be a 
failure.
  The investigation also showed that the DOE failed to consult with the 
Treasury Department as simply required by the Energy Policy Act prior 
to issuing a conditional commitment to Solyndra and that Treasury 
didn't even play a role in simply reviewing the restructuring. The No 
More Solyndras Act will correct this by ensuring that Treasury is 
actively involved in the loan process to protect our taxpayers.
  Mr. Speaker, the Solyndra investigation and the No More Solyndras Act 
are a great example of how congressional oversight should work. We 
asked the tough questions, collected all the facts, identified the 
problem, and now we're offering good legislation.
  I encourage all my colleagues to support H.R. 6213, the No More 
Solyndras Act, to ensure that the mistakes and misguided decisions that 
occurred never, ever happen again.

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