Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee today released a draft of their much-anticipated "No More Solyndras" bill, potentially one of the final acts in a long drama on Capitol Hill surrounding the failed solar energy company.

Even though the committee's probe of Solyndra appears likely to end without confirming any criminal wrongdoing, some language in the bill seems crafted to justify the 17-month-long investigation that has represented a significant investment of the panel's time and funding this Congress. Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) opened his probe of the company, which received $535 million through a controversial Department of Energy loan guarantee program, in February 2011, six months before the company filed for bankruptcy last August.

SPECIAL REPORT

Solyndra, a solar manufacturer that was given a $535 million loan guarantee and touted by the White House as a model for the clean energy economy, has filed for bankruptcy. E&E examines how it got there and what it means. Click here to read the report.

"The investigation of the Solyndra loan guarantee by the Committee on Energy and Commerce has demonstrated that the review in 2009 of the Solyndra application by the Department of Energy and the Office of Management and Budget was driven by politics and ideology and divorced from economic reality where the Department of Energy ignored concerns about the company's financial condition and market for its products," the bill states.

Democrats on the panel are sure to disagree with that conclusion. They have argued that the investigation has failed to prove the gross political abuse that Republicans originally alleged. For their part, DOE and White House officials have maintained that all decisions related to the issuance and management of loans were made on the merits by career staffers.

In a release today, committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) called the loan guarantee program "ground zero of the Obama administration's failed stimulus" and noted that two other loan recipients besides Solyndra have followed that company into bankruptcy. The latest came when Colorado-based Abound Solar announced last month that it was preparing to shut down, less than two years after being approved for a $400 million loan (E&E Daily, June 29).

"Sadly, the bankruptcies are starting to pile up," Upton said. "If oversight is done well, it should result in good legislation and that is what we have in the 'No More Solyndras Act.' Our legislative fix will give taxpayers the peace of mind that such a disaster like Solyndra will never happen again."

The legislation would set a cutoff date on applications for new loans, provide additional review requirements on the issuance of new loans, place greater reporting requirements on DOE for existing loans and disallow the controversial practice of loan subordination when managing struggling loans.

The investigations panel along with the Energy and Power Subcommittee are scheduled to hold a joint legislative hearing on the legislation Thursday morning.

Click here to read a discussion draft of the legislation.