Democratic lawmakers are seeking to block a federal regulator's investigation into wrongdoing in the Biden administration's $400 billion green energy loan program, a sign that Democrats may be growing concerned about problems uncovered by the long-running probe. [emphasis, links added]
The Department of Energy's inspector general has spent more than a year investigating the loan program's office, which has been Accused of doling out billions of dollars in government loans to politically connected recipients, including companies on the brink of bankruptcy and entities with ties to foreign adversaries.
Now, Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have taken the unusual step of opening a probe against investigators.
In a letter last week, Democrats accused Energy Department Inspector General Terry Donaldson of “bypassing[ing] When she hired outside law firm Rabalais & Associates to assist with the investigation, “the competition requirement exists to ensure taxpayer dollars are not wasted.”
Energy industry insiders said Democrats' move against the inspector general is “bizarre” and suggests the Biden administration is worried about what the upcoming inspector general report will reveal.
“Investigating the inspector general, it's a little weird,” a former Energy Department official told reporters. washington free beacon. “They tried to discredit the report before it even came out.”
“That probably means the report was very bad,” the former official added.
Donaldson defended the law firm's hiring in a written response Wednesday ahead of the release of a report on the loan office that could contain damaging disclosures about the Biden administration's plans.
The once-sleepy loan office has expanded its budget more than 2,200% under President Joe Biden and now has a lender that rivals the size of the commercial loan portfolios of Wells Fargo and other international banks.
In recent weeks, Loan offices have been scrambling to roll out billions of dollars in loans ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.
Donaldson tells lawmakers in 2023 Her office “is looking into conflicts of interest, specifically in loan program offices.” The following free beacon reported that Directors of this loan program have personal, professional or financial relationships with some of the companies receiving loans.
Last summer, Donaldson hired Houston-based energy law group Rabalais & Associates to expand the investigation.
In a Dec. 5 letter to Donaldson, House Democrats accused her of hiring Rabalais and ignoring the requests of competing contractors.
“Awarding such a large portion of the annual budget to one attorney without a tender not only calls into question the appropriateness of the award, but also calls into question the need to increase the office's budget because you decided to outsource a large amount business.
Donaldson responded The contract is handled by the Department of Energy's Procurement Division and is subject to procurement rules.
She also defended her investigation as “long overdue,” noting The loan office has a “checkered history” and has not been properly vetted for more than a decade.
In 2012, the loan program office was embroiled in a scandal after it issued a $500 million loan to Solyndra. A politically connected solar company went bankrupt and defaulted.
A subsequent investigation found wrongdoing in the program. The loan office goes into hibernation until The program has been revived under the Biden administration with an influx of money from infrastructure and spending bills.
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