The ghost of Solyndra made repeated appearances yesterday during the second day of debate on the fiscal 2013 energy and water spending bill, as a trio of amendments were offered that would cut funding for the Department of Energy office that shelled out more than half a billion dollars to the now-bankrupt solar energy company.

In addition, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee that is investigating Solyndra, took to the House floor to offer his own measure and to remind his colleagues that his now 16-month-long probe of the company that received $535 million in taxpayer funding is far from over.

In an interview before he offered his bill last night, Stearns acknowledged that his Solyndra investigation has faded from the public eye since his high-profile hearing last November featuring Energy Secretary Steven Chu. But Stearns said that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has helped put Solyndra back in the spotlight, especially after the former Massachusetts governor made a surprise campaign stop outside the shuttered Solyndra headquarters in California last week.

Since the early days of his Solyndra probe, Stearns has been locked in a tug of war over documents with the Obama administration, a battle that led to the issuance of a subpoena seven months ago. But while the administration has now provided about 200,000 pages of documents to the committee, Stearns believes the most damning documents are still being held back.

Stearns said last night that he is ready to declare that the subpoena process is not working and begin proceedings to hold the White House in contempt of Congress.

But, he said, House GOP leaders are not so willing to take that step.

"As far as I'm concerned, they are not complying [with the subpoena, but] there are people above me that think they can get them to comply. ... At this point, leadership is being patient," he said.

Asked if his leadership was being too patient, Stearns would only say, "I think they're being patient. I'm not as patient. I've seen too much of this, and I find that the process has shown that they continue to blow us off."

But while he has been forced to wait out the White House and his own leaders on the subpoena issue, Stearns moved forward last night with an amendment that he said would fix a costly loophole when it comes to DOE's management of its loan guarantee portfolio.

As details of the Solyndra's slide into bankruptcy emerged during his hearings, Stearns has been especially critical of a decision by DOE in February 2011 to subordinate $75 million of taxpayer money behind cash from private investors in a last-ditch effort to prop up the failing company.

Republicans maintain that the subordination was more than just a bad financial decision and was in fact a blatant violation of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which prohibits such efforts.

The Department of Energy has argued that it had legal authority to subordinate the loan because a subsequent section of the law provides the department with broad authority to act to protect taxpayers in case of default. Agency officials have said that Chu had the ability to subordinate the loan because he believed at the time it would save taxpayers' money in the end.

Stearns, who has never bought that argument, is now seeking to close that loophole permanently with his amendment that would prohibit the subordination of any future loans.

"It is clear ... that every step of the way, the Department of Energy ignored the law and did whatever it wished to push through the subordination," Stearns said last night.

Stearns said yesterday that he also was working on coming up with a stand-alone measure that would lay out criminal penalties for anyone who attempts to subordinate DOE loans in the future.

The three other Solyndra-related amendments offered last night by Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio were aimed at limiting the ability of DOE to issue new loan guarantees.

Kucinich was especially critical of DOE loans for nuclear projects but noted that there have been "plenty of other boondoggles" funded by the loan program that others could criticize.

During debate on Jordan's amendment, Rep. Pete Viscloky (D-Ind.) defended the loan program, arguing that DOE has learned from its past mistakes and instituted reforms that would reduce the risk borne by the department.

"Because we have several promising projects that remain in the pipeline ... I do not believe this amendment is fruitful," Visclosky said.

Jordan said that kind of thinking is exactly why the country is facing a massive budget deficit.

He called the loan program the "low-hanging fruit" in reducing federal spending.

"Why not focus on a program that completely doesn't work, something we know has failed?" Jordan asked. "If we can't even stop that program, how in the heck are we going to deal with a $16 trillion debt?"

Jordan's and Blackburn's bills, which target the same Section 1705 loan program that funded Solyndra, were agreed to by voice vote. A vote on Kucinich's bill, which targets the separate Section 1703 loan program, was postponed, as was a vote on Stearn's bill.

Reporter Nick Juliano contributed.