House GOP: This Solyndra investigation is like “pulling teeth”

I like that Solyndra has shown staying power in the political narrative — the whole boondoggle should be as common-knowledge as possible. As the flagship failure of the Department of Energy’s sketchy gamut of clean energy ‘investments,’ it so aptly demonstrates the Obama administration’s attitude toward using taxpayer dollars to fund the politically expedient projects of their environmental wishful thinking. Which is precisely why Democrats aren’t so fond of those darned Republicans bringing it up all the time. Democrats have oft complained that Republicans are turning the DOE’s loan program into a “witch hunt” and “dancing on Solyndra’s grave” and etcetera, but we could all have the whole thing out right now if the administration would maybe just quit withholding pertinent information.

“We are still pulling teeth,” House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said in the Capitol on Thursday, pointing to documents the committee is still seeking from the administration. “We don’t have an answer yet.”

Republican investigators say they are still focused on Solyndra, including potential legislation to reform the DOE loan program as well as more hearings on the matter.

“I’m not satisfied with the White House’s compliance with the subpoena for documents and records related to Solyndra,” Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, told POLITICO in a statement.

“The initial deadline for producing the requested documents was Feb. 21 and they are still withholding these records,” he added. “The subpoena is now 7 months old and President [Barack] Obama, who promised the most transparent administration in history, continues to thwart the subcommittee’s constitutional responsibility to provide oversight.”

The White House didn’t comment Thursday but it has said repeatedly that it has provided a wealth of information to the House in repeated document dumps — and that Republicans have little to show for their efforts.

Despite the Democrats’ indignant bleating, I can only applaud the GOP for insisting on holding the administration accountable on this one. The federal government so blatantly ignoring free-market signals to foist their clean-energy whimsy upon the stubborn masses cannot become the new normal, as badly as Obama & friends would like to sweep their centrally-planned misadventures under the rug. As Rep. Stearns says, Solyndra most definitely should be an issue on both the Hill and on the campaign trail, and I have to say — I thought Mitt Romney’s unannounced presser in front of the sad-looking Solyndra plant last week was almost delightfully cheeky.

• Pew: Plurality of Democrats support DOJ’s phone-records dragnet against the Associated Press while GOP, indies oppose
• “Experienced Democrats” whispering that it might be time for Holder to go
• Pelosi: These Republicans are too consumed with “evasions” to worry about the real issue, which is … jobs

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