"GOP Targets Biden’s $400 Billion Clean-Energy Loan Program"

"Congressional Republicans are putting President Joe Biden’s $400 billion green bank in their crosshairs, seeking a repeat of the political victory they scored in 2011 with the scandal over collapsed solar company Solyndra.

The probe of the Energy Department’s green lending arm threatens to slow the rollout of new clean energy technology that can replace fossil fuels, a key piece of Biden’s climate agenda. If Republicans succeed in finding a Solyndra-like failure, it could be a political blow for the president in an election year.

“Solyndra is going to look like chump change” this time around, Senator John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican leading efforts to hamstring the program, told reporters.

Barrasso and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, who chairs the House’s Energy and Commerce Committee, have requested reams of documents from the Energy Department relating to the Loan Programs Office, which is flush with capital thanks to an infusion from the Democrats’ 2022 climate law."

Ari Natter reports for Bloomberg News January 4, 2024.

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 01/05/2024