Here’s an idea: Solyndra is Bush’s fault

That idea was floated briefly by Representative Henry Waxman (D. Ca.) during yesterday’s hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.  Mr. Waxman is a member of said committee.  And, what follows if a piece of his “questioning” of  Jonathan Silver, head of the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program.

“My understanding is that Solyndra applied for this loan in 2006 when Bush was President,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA).

“That’s right,” said Jonathan Silver of the Energy Department, who spent a long day at the witness table, arguing that the groundwork for the Solyndra loan was vetted before President Obama took office.

“All this took place during the Bush Administration,” said Waxman.

However,  Mr. Waxman neglects to mention that in January, 2009 the Bush administration declined to grant the loan to Solyndra, and sent it back for further review.

What Mr. Waxman also neglects to mention is that the loan guarantee was not granted by the Department of Energy until September, 2009, and was only done so then because an announcement of the loan guarantee had been scheduled by Vice President Biden and Energy Secretary Chu for September 4, 2009.  According to an e-mail from the Office of Management and Budget to the Vice President’s domestic advisor,

We have ended up with a situation of having to do rushed approvals on a couple of occasions (and we are worried about Solyndra at the end of the week).  We would prefer to have sufficient time to do our due dilligence reviews and have the approval set the date for the announcement rather than the other way around.

I can only assume that in Mr. Waxman’s mind, blaming anything on President Bush is far more preferable than actually finding out what happened.

 

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SoundOffSister

The Sound Off Sister was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and special trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division; a partner in the Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen, and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law. The Sound Off Sister offers frequent commentary concerning legislation making its way through Congress, including the health reform legislation passed in early 2010.

30 Comments

  1. winnie on September 15, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    The timeline isn’t important in the blame game…Henry Nostril-itis Waxman is apparently very adept at revisionism.? Just because he says it does not make it so…and this Solyndra thing isn’t going to go away just because he wants it to.? Kinda like fast & furious isn’t going to go away, either.? Just more distraction techniques.?? It’s all they’ve got.



  2. NH-Jim on September 15, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    Would this mean that the Obamacare bill should then be renamed Bushcare thus blaming that whole boondoggle also on W?
    ?
    That bill was after all hidden in Waxman’s desk drawer during Bush’s term.



    • GdavidH on September 15, 2011 at 7:08 pm

      Do you think that might make it more attractive for the Dems to assist?repeal that awful, anti-American?piece of Bush administration legislation? I’m all in for that senario!!!!



  3. Dimsdale on September 15, 2011 at 2:57 pm

    Tell me you didn’t see that coming!



  4. sammy22 on September 15, 2011 at 6:37 pm

    See my comments on Romneycare.



    • Dimsdale on September 16, 2011 at 8:14 am

      Lazy, sammy.



  5. ricbee on September 15, 2011 at 10:06 pm

    Even the best ideas-Solyndra not being one,are soon corrupted once government money & regulations are involved. Then it becomes how much can we get from the government instead of building a viable product.



  6. Anybody but Obama on September 16, 2011 at 5:48 am

    Waxman must be a graduate of the Debbie(Debbie Downer) Wasserman Schultz school of stupid statements



  7. Jeff S on September 16, 2011 at 7:35 am

    When all else fails ….. “Blame Bush”



  8. crystal4 on September 16, 2011 at 8:05 am

    The Bush team tried to conditionally approve the Solyndra loan just before President Obama took office.
    The company?s backers included private investors who had diverse political interests.
    The loan comprises just 1.3% of DOE?s overall loan portfolio. To date, Solyndra is the only loan that?s known to be troubled.



    • Dimsdale on September 16, 2011 at 8:12 am

      The operating word being “tried”.
      ?
      Show us all the green loans that are working out, i.e. what “green” company has passed the break even point on production vs. cost.? Without subsidies.



    • Dimsdale on September 16, 2011 at 8:17 am

      Joe Romm’s page.? Howls of derisive laughter ensue.



    • crystal4 on September 16, 2011 at 8:28 am

      Romm details a comprehensive time line. That’s your comment ‘derisive laughter”??
      Ok, stick to the propaganda machine.



    • Dimsdale on September 16, 2011 at 1:14 pm

      It appears to be your job.



  9. SeeingRed on September 16, 2011 at 8:29 am

    When an obvious statesman like Henry W. goes down the garden path of blame game politics (heretofore referred to as The Bush Path) are any Democrats listening?? Who is he talking to?



  10. Anybody but Obama on September 16, 2011 at 8:43 am

    Think Progress where have I heard that term before?? This isn’t the same Think Progress funded by Little Georgie Soros is it?



    • crystal4 on September 16, 2011 at 9:06 am

      Correct!
      He funded it to respond to the Koch brothers (oil billionaires) funding? The Cato institute (the number 1 opponents of environmental reform) and The Heritage Foundation.
      Good job ABO!



  11. Murphy on September 16, 2011 at 8:55 am

    As they said in Karate Kid – Waxman Waxoff



  12. Anybody but Obama on September 16, 2011 at 9:05 am

    Crystal,
    ?1st; Solyndra’s loan isn’t troubled they filed for bankruptcy
    2nd; 4 other green companies?who received stimulus money filed for bankruptcy
    ??? 1) Evergreen Solar Inc.
    ??? 2) Spectra Watt
    ??? 3) Mountain Plaza Inc.
    ????4) Olsen Mills
    ???



  13. JBS on September 16, 2011 at 9:47 am

    Who owns the actual business of making the loan to Solyndra? The BO Regime.
    Who failed to perform due diligence before making the loan to Solyndra? The BO Regime.
    Who got a kick-back “contribution” once the loan was made? The BO Regime.
    Who set the loan announcement date ahead oft the approval? The BO Regime.
    Who knew that Solyndra was in trouble (see previous Solyndra blogs) Before the loan was made? The BO Regime.
    What stinks here? The BO Regime.When the DemocRATS are cornered by their own malfeasance, who does the BO Regime blame? Bush of course!
    The BO’s Regime is acting like spoiled children do, blame, dissemble, and point fingers. The DemocRATS may fall for this nonsense, but the vast majority of Americans are aware that the BO Regime is lying about the Solyndra fiasco, the Fast and Furious gun debacle and many other policies gone bad that emanated from the BO Regime.
    The American people will turn this sorry excuse for a president out in 2012.? Hopefully!
    ?
    ?



  14. Anybody but Obama on September 16, 2011 at 9:52 am

    Right from Solyndra’s website

    http://www.solyndra.com/2009/03/us-department/

    Thanking zero, Dept. Energy and the Dem controlled congress for approving the loan



    • NH-Jim on September 16, 2011 at 11:23 am

      Gee, ABO, aren’t you going to research and quote a far leftist site with writers like Stephen Lacey and Richard Caperton?
      Caperton’s response to the question, “What is the DOE’s Loan Guarantee program?
      These technologies need support because they need to bridge the so-called valley of death; that is they?re not start-up companies that get venture capital and they?re not very mature technology that gets debt financing from traditional Wall Street banks. Now it?s important to know that with a loan guarantee the government is not issuing direct loans. In a direct-loan transaction the Department of Energy would actually give cash to these clean tech companies that would then repay the direct loan over time. A loan guarantee is different. In that transaction the clean technology company gets a loan from a private bank or another type of private investor. Then if they don?t pay back that loan the government pays it back for them. That helps engage private capital and it also makes sure that these companies…



    • NH-Jim on September 16, 2011 at 11:26 am

      ?can borrow at a lower cost of capital than they would be without the loan guarantee.
      Either, way Mr. Caperton, the taxpayer is fleeced!



  15. crystal4 on September 16, 2011 at 11:19 am

    Bottom line:
    “What critics fail to mention is that the Solyndra deal is more than three years old, started under the Bush Administration, which tried to conditionally approve the loan right before Obama took office. Rather than ?pushing funds out the door too quickly,? the Obama Administration restructured the original loan when it came into office to further protect the taxpayers? investment.”
    \AND…why did Bush try to fast track it?
    “one of the earliest and largest investors, Madrone Capital Partners, is funded by the family that started Wal-Mart, the Waltons. The Waltons have donated millions of dollars to Republican candidates over the years.”



    • Anybody but Obama on September 16, 2011 at 11:41 am

      Crystal not a bit of truth and I could care less about the Waltons



    • Dimsdale on September 16, 2011 at 9:02 pm

      You keep saying how “Bush tried” this and that.? To quote Yoda, “Do or do not; there is no try.”? ?bama did, Bush didn’t.
      ?
      Bottom line: if ?bama is sooo intelligent (compared to Bush), why did he approve ANY loan to this company, not to mention publicly extolling all of its “virtues”??? If, as you state, big Republican supporters were so far into this company, why did ?bama send it anything?



    • crystal4 on September 17, 2011 at 7:08 am

      Wow, you cannot get the concept that he was thinking clean renewable energy rather than partisan ,vindictive politics. Like, this is good for the country but since the Bush wanted to push this through..I will squash it.
      Are you a member of the House, Dimsdale..you are blowing your cover. (“Make sure Obama does not create 1 new job, screw the country, we must make sure he does not succeed.”)



    • Dimsdale on September 17, 2011 at 9:38 am

      I am confused by your statement, crystal.? Who is the “he” in your first sentence?? It could apply to either Bush or ?bama by your reckoning.? YOU keep saying what Bush tried in terms of Solyndra as though it were a bad thing, which a money pit like Solyndra turned out to be.??
      ?
      How many jobs does a bankrupt company create?? And who pays the bill for the lousy loan?? Nothing ?bama has done convinces me he cares a whit about jobs in this country, in this case, he is just humping his green energy boondoggles for political reasons, clearly not economic ones.? He doesn’t need any help “not creating jobs” apparently.
      ?
      I repeat: if ?bama is so smart, how come he bought into the very thing you say Bush was “stupid” enough to support?
      ?
      Can’t have it both ways.? Pick one.



    • NH-Jim on September 22, 2011 at 5:18 pm

      Oh, but let’s ignore George Kaiser and his Kaiser Family Foundation that returned campaign funds back to Obama and donations to Michelle Obama’s Urban Health Initiative.
      ?
      Pay to Play



Typical congress-critter

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