After beating back eight Democratic amendments during a daylong markup, Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee successfully sent the controversial "No More Solyndras Act" to the House floor today.

The bill was approved 29-19, with GOP Reps. Brian Bilbray (Calif.) and Charlie Bass (N.H.) crossing the aisle to vote against it.

In their attempt to slow the Solyndra measure, born from the committee's 18-month investigation into the failed solar energy company, Democrats offered amendments to weaken the bill but also tried to trip up Republicans with a measure that would have given the bill more bite.

While Republicans have sold H.R. 6213 as a way to end the Department of Energy loan guarantee program that provided $535 million in federal funds to Solyndra, Democrats say the bill doesn't actually shut down the loan program. They point out that under a provision in the bill, DOE would be allowed to continue issuing loan guarantees to companies as long as they submitted their applications before a Dec. 31, 2011, cutoff date.

While DOE no longer has the authority to issue new loan guarantees under the stimulus program that funded Solyndra, the agency has the authority to issue about $34 billion worth of loans under a separate program created under the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

Members on the committee have noted that companies representing about 50 projects had submitted applications before Dec. 31. Those projects represent about $101 billion in requests.

Republicans have said they selected the cutoff date to protect the government from liability for companies that could be harmed by DOE's pulling the plug on the program. But Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has accused Republicans of trying to protect certain industries, including the nuclear and coal sectors, that have submitted applications. By Markey's calculations, nuclear and coal companies account for more than $88 billion of the $101 billion in loan applications submitted before Dec. 31.

"In reality, the No More Solyndras Act as drafted should be called the Only $88.4 Billion More for Nuclear and Coal No More Solyndras Act," Markey said.

In what Democrats called a "test vote" of Republicans' commitment to shutting down the loan program, Markey offered an amendment to do just that, without any application cutoff deadlines.

"His amendment does what the Republicans say they are doing," panel ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said.

Waxman noted that Democrats believe in the effectiveness of the loan guarantee program and wouldn’t vote for the Markey amendment. But "if the Republicans really want to terminate the program this is their opportunity."

But Republicans accused Markey of trying to play politics by putting forth an amendment aimed at disrupting the process.

"Clearly, what's happened is not a concern about policy but a concern about politics," said Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). "We're dealing with real people's jobs here. ... This is the political theater that the American public is so sick and tired of."

In the end, Markey was able to get three Republicans to vote for his amendment, even as he and every Democrat opposed it.

Republicans were able to add several amendments of their own to the bill, including measures that would reaffirm that DOE cannot undertake the controversial practice of subordination in managing a troubled loan, as it did with Solyndra, and another that would add civil penalties as high as $50,000 for anyone who does subordinate a loan. The Solyndra loan subordination has allowed private investors to be first in line to get money back during the bankruptcy process even though they invested after the federal government.