ALSO WRITTEN REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTS FROM DOE SECRETATY CHU ON SOLYNDRA RESTRUCTURING

WASHINGTON, DEC. 1, 2011 – Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, joined the Committee’s Chairman, Fred Upton (R-MI), in writing to the President’s and Vice President’s counsels seeking an end to the delay in providing the subpoenaed documents and records.  They also wrote to Energy Secretary Chu expressing concerns that all of the Solyndra documents have not been provided, and requesting documents relating to Solyndra’s second application for a second loan guarantee, and for additional information regarding questions asked at the November 17, 2011, hearing with Secretary Chu, particularly with the Secretary’s claim of outside counsel documents on loan subordination.

The letters to the counsels for the President and Vice President state, “We have serious concerns, however, relating to your search for documents responsive to the Committee’s subpoena.”  The letters further note that documents already provided show “that White House and Vice President’s Office personnel were intimately involved in decisions related to Solyndra and the loan guarantee program.”  The letters name Larry Summers, Carol Browner, Ron Klain, and Valerie Jarrett as being involved in the Solyndra decision, citing one memorandum from Klain, Summers, and Browner dated October 25, 2010, to President Obama discussing problems with the loan guarantee program and restructuring the program.

The letters further state, “Finally, the refusal by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to make certain employees available to the Committee for interviews, briefings or hearings is simply unacceptable…As OMB is encompassed within the Executive Office of the President, it is our understanding that the White House Counsel’s office has been involved in the decision to deny the Committee access to those individuals…If the White House persists in stonewalling this Committee, however, we will not hesitate to take the necessary steps to ensure that there is no further obstruction of our investigation.”