Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee aren't taking no for an answer in their quest for White House documents on the federal loan to the bankrupt solar manufacturer Solyndra.

In a response to a White House letter last week that informed the committee that it was already getting all the documents it needed for its investigation from three executive branch agencies, Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and investigations subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) said the cooperation of the Department of Energy, Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget does not excuse the White House from its responsibility to respond to Congress.

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 two lawmakers then dared the White House to make an official executive privilege claim on the Solyndra-related documents it has yet to release.

"We note that the White House does not claim that it does not possess responsive documents relating to Solyndra," Upton and Stearns wrote today. "In your letter you make a vague reference to your concerns regarding the confidentiality of Executive Branch documents. However, unless the President actually asserts a valid claim of executive privilege, the Committee is entitled to the documents responsive to its request."

The committee said some of the 70,000 pages of documents already obtained in its eight-month-long investigation show that senior White House officials, including former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and the former director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, Carol Browner, were involved in various aspects of the Solyndra deal. They said that their involvement has now become one of the central components of its investigation.

Click here to read the letter that was sent to the White House.