Top executives for a bankrupt solar manufacturer with deep ties to the White House refused to answer questions on Capitol Hill Friday about hemorrhaging more than a half billion dollars in stimulus funding.
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Solyndra President Brian Harrison and Chief Financial Officer William Stover repeatedly invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination as lawmakers grilled them about a $535 million federal loan guarantee trumpeted by President Obama that ultimately could leave taxpayers with the massive tab.
Questions continue to swirl about whether the bankruptcy was a byproduct of bad business decisions or if the Obama administration ignored red flags and pushed through a loan for a poster child of green energy.
But the stone-faced executives provided no clarity before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Friday.
“If you’re not aware of any wrongdoing, how can you plead the Fifth Amendment?” said Rep. Cliff Sterns, R-Fla.
Solyndra has been lambasted by Republicans as proof that Obama’s stimulus program was a failed, big-government spending binge. The company is now under investigation by two congressional committees, the Department of Justice and the Department of Energy’s inspector general.
Though both Democrats and Republicans said they were disappointed by the silence from Solyndra, liberal lawmakers accused GOP officials of using the controversy to score political points against green energy programs.
“Republicans are dancing on Solyndra’s grave,” said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who added that many conservatives pushed for clean energy loans in their own districts and that “risk is an inherent component” of the program.
The House on Thursday approved a stopgap funding measure that would strip $1.5 billion from a green vehicle program and $100 million for renewable energy firms similar to Solyndra. The measure is dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Solyndra, which Obama visited last year and championed as “leading the way to a brighter and more prosperous future,” was recently raided by the FBI and forced to lay off 1,100 employees when it collapsed.
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said the company would be forced to provide answers for a “great heist of more than half a billion dollars.”
“Let me just warn you and the other folks involved in this taxpayer rip-off: We’re not done — no we’re not,” he said.
