“WHAT IS THE WHIITE HOUSE HIDING?” – LIMITED DOCUMENTS ALREADY PROVIDED SHOW POLITICAL INFLUENCE RAMPANT IN LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM

WASHINGTON, OCT. 19, 2011 – “From the documents already provided by the White House covering a very short period of time we know that political influence contaminated the Department of Energy loan guarantee program,” said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.  “This decision to withhold these documents begs the question – what is the White House hiding?”  Stearns wrote to White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler renewing the request for all White House documents related to Solyndra.

The White House recently informed Stearns and the Energy and Commerce Committee that it would not provide all internal documents involving Solyndra.  The letter to Ruemmler states, “The fact that other agencies are in the process of attempting to comply with our request for documents does not excuse the White House from producing its own responsive documents.  Our request to the White House is not duplicative of our requests to other Executive Branch agencies. … We note that the White House does not claim that it does not possess responsive documents relating to Solyndra.  Indeed, documents produced to the Committee thus far indicate that several senior advisors in the White House — including those in the office of the Chief of Staff, the Director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, and the Senior Advisor for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs — were either warned about the Solyndra loan guarantee or were engaged at various points in the review of Solyndra or in planning the President’s visit to the company’s facilities in May 2010.”  

The letter also addresses the possibility of invoking executive privilege, “In your letter you make a vague reference to your concerns regarding the confidentiality of Executive Branch documents.  However, unless the President actually asserts a valid claim of executive privilege, the Committee is entitled to the documents responsive to its request.”

 
Link to letter