House To Investigate Obama
Sept 20, 2011 20:41:26 GMT -5
Post by PrisonerOfHope on Sept 20, 2011 20:41:26 GMT -5
House to Investigate Obama Administration on Solyndra, LightSquared
Eric Odom (Media Director)
Obama administration officials have to be sitting uneasy this evening as the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee plans a probe into possible corruption over Solyndra and LightSquared. The investigation is being initiated by Congressman Darrell Issa, a California Republican.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday that his committee plans to investigate government loan programs to private corporations in light of allegations of improper dealings between the White House and failed energy company Solyndra and wireless start-up LightSquared.
“I want to see when the president and his cronies are picking winners and losers… it wasn’t because there were large contributions given to them,” the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Tuesday morning on C-SPAN.
News of the investigation was followed by an announcement that Solyndra Executives will plead the 5th when questioned on the matter before Congress this Friday. This announcement leads many to believe there is much to hide in the story and the bankrupt “green” company is doing what it can to keep from “stirring the pot.”
The Hill’s original story (linked above) paints a clear picture of the scenario as it unfolds.
Republicans in Congress quickly mocked the bankruptcy as emblematic of the president’s green technology initiatives under the stimulus bill — and noted that a key Solyndra investor had been a bundler for the Obama campaign. House Republicans say they have emails showing the White House pressuring Department of Energy bureaucrats to expedite the loan approvals, although the White House has argued that nothing improper occurred.
Republicans have also charged that the White House pressured an Air Force general to revise testimony before a closed congressional hearing to aid LightSquared, a wireless start-up company. Emails between the company and the White House make mention of the fact that the company’s CEO would be attending Democratic fundraisers in Washington, and administration officials met with executives from the company on the same day that CEO Sanjiv Ahuja wrote a $30,400 check to the Democratic National Committee.
White House officials deny any wrong doing or coaching through the loan process, but a second government official is now claiming he was pushed to use certain verbiage during the loan lobbying process. The second instance is related directly to the funding of LightSquared.
Anthony Russo, director of the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, told The Daily Beast he rejected “guidance” from the White House’s Office of Budget and Management suggesting he tell Congress that the government’s concerns about the project by the firm LightSquared could be resolved in 90 days, a timetable favorable to the company’s plans.
“They gave that to me and presumably the other witnesses,” Russo said. “There is one sentence I disagreed with, which said that I thought the testing could be resolved in 90 days. So I took it out.”
Russo said he objected to that language because “I have low confidence that we can complete all of the testing in 90 days.” He estimated that such testing would take at least six months. Russo called the White House efforts to alter his testimony “guidance rather than pressure.”
Of course, the White House had an initial response that “that’s the way business works.”
libertynews.com/2011/09/20/house-to-investigate-obama-administration-on-solyndra-lightsquared/
Eric Odom (Media Director)
Obama administration officials have to be sitting uneasy this evening as the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee plans a probe into possible corruption over Solyndra and LightSquared. The investigation is being initiated by Congressman Darrell Issa, a California Republican.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday that his committee plans to investigate government loan programs to private corporations in light of allegations of improper dealings between the White House and failed energy company Solyndra and wireless start-up LightSquared.
“I want to see when the president and his cronies are picking winners and losers… it wasn’t because there were large contributions given to them,” the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Tuesday morning on C-SPAN.
News of the investigation was followed by an announcement that Solyndra Executives will plead the 5th when questioned on the matter before Congress this Friday. This announcement leads many to believe there is much to hide in the story and the bankrupt “green” company is doing what it can to keep from “stirring the pot.”
The Hill’s original story (linked above) paints a clear picture of the scenario as it unfolds.
Republicans in Congress quickly mocked the bankruptcy as emblematic of the president’s green technology initiatives under the stimulus bill — and noted that a key Solyndra investor had been a bundler for the Obama campaign. House Republicans say they have emails showing the White House pressuring Department of Energy bureaucrats to expedite the loan approvals, although the White House has argued that nothing improper occurred.
Republicans have also charged that the White House pressured an Air Force general to revise testimony before a closed congressional hearing to aid LightSquared, a wireless start-up company. Emails between the company and the White House make mention of the fact that the company’s CEO would be attending Democratic fundraisers in Washington, and administration officials met with executives from the company on the same day that CEO Sanjiv Ahuja wrote a $30,400 check to the Democratic National Committee.
White House officials deny any wrong doing or coaching through the loan process, but a second government official is now claiming he was pushed to use certain verbiage during the loan lobbying process. The second instance is related directly to the funding of LightSquared.
Anthony Russo, director of the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, told The Daily Beast he rejected “guidance” from the White House’s Office of Budget and Management suggesting he tell Congress that the government’s concerns about the project by the firm LightSquared could be resolved in 90 days, a timetable favorable to the company’s plans.
“They gave that to me and presumably the other witnesses,” Russo said. “There is one sentence I disagreed with, which said that I thought the testing could be resolved in 90 days. So I took it out.”
Russo said he objected to that language because “I have low confidence that we can complete all of the testing in 90 days.” He estimated that such testing would take at least six months. Russo called the White House efforts to alter his testimony “guidance rather than pressure.”
Of course, the White House had an initial response that “that’s the way business works.”
libertynews.com/2011/09/20/house-to-investigate-obama-administration-on-solyndra-lightsquared/
