House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said this afternoon that he has asked Energy Secretary Steven Chu to appear before his committee next Thursday to clear up "previous inaccurate statements" that the secretary made when he appeared before the panel in March to discuss the agency's controversial loan guarantee program.

Issa did not list the specific inaccurate statements he was referring to in a short interview this afternoon just off the House floor, but he said further investigations conducted by the committee have uncovered evidence that contradicts some of the statements Chu made at that hearing.

"We'd like to give him a chance to clear it up," Issa said.

The chairman added that Chu has yet to accept the invitation, noting that he expected a response later today or tomorrow.

A DOE spokesman declined to say this afternoon whether Chu would accept the committee's invitation.

Back in March, a large chunk of Chu's appearance before the committee was devoted to the issue of gas prices, which were surging at the time.

But at the hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who has been heading up Issa's probe of the loan program, also pressed Chu about the large number of companies that received loans that also had ties to President Obama's contributors or administration officials.

Jordan pointed out that a committee investigation found eight of the 27 companies that received loan guarantees through the program have connections to people who also have ties to the Obama campaign or administration.

"You weren't just helping people with connections to the administration?" Jordan asked Chu.

Chu said none of the connections Jordan pointed out made a difference in how professional staff at DOE assessed the loan applications.

Chu also argued that several of the companies that received loans through the program also had high-profile Republican donors as backers.

Jordan said the performance of the loan program and high-profile bankruptcies like those of Solyndra and Beacon Power indicate that "you either helped your friends, or you were incompetent."