Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), who is leading GOP attacks on the Obama administration's use of stimulus money to promote green jobs, was a big fan of at least one federal green jobs effort -- a $95.5 million grant to a company in his district.

Last March, Stearns attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a battery manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Jacksonville that was built to make lithium-ion battery cells for military hybrid vehicles and solar and wind energy storage. Nearly half the cash for the new Saft America Inc. facility was provided through a cost-sharing arrangement funded through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

At the time, Stearns said he was "honored to join in welcoming Safts" to the area. "As a member of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, I recognize the contributions of these advanced rechargeable batteries in meeting our energy needs," the 12-term lawmaker said.

But today, he is not so sure.

A year and a half later, the 235,000-square-foot facility, which will employ 100 workers, is set to celebrate its grand opening tomorrow. According to a company official today, Stearns has been invited to attend the grand opening.

Stearns was decidedly less enthusiastic about Saft during a brief interview on Capitol Hill today.

"I have no opinion on it right now," Stearns said when asked about the Saft grant. "I'd have to get back to you on it."

The congressman's office did not return a request for additional comment in time for publication.

The grand opening of Saft's new facility comes at an awkward time for Stearns, who is heading a House Energy and Commerce Committee investigation into a bankrupt solar energy company that received more than half a billion dollars through a controversial Department of Energy loan guarantee program that also received money through the stimulus.

Stearns and other Republican leaders have sought to make Solyndra Inc. the poster child of the Obama administration stimulus effort at a time when the president is traveling the country in an attempt to sell a new jobs bill that Republicans are calling a second stimulus.

Stearns grilled DOE and Office of Management and Budget officials yesterday about the loan guarantee program and the Solyndra deal. He has also called for a larger investigation into other projects funded through the loan program and said the government should not be in the business of providing handouts to try to create green jobs.

"This whole idea that the president is going to create jobs in American from this green technology is suspect," Stearns said Tuesday.

Saft did not receive its funding through the loan guarantee program, but the $95.5 million grant it received from DOE certainly falls into the larger category of stimulus funding for green and renewable energy.

Stearns, who is still a member of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, said today he continues to believe that creating new jobs should be left to the free market and not government bets on new technologies in still-developing sectors like wind and solar.

"I think everybody is disappointed, Democrats and Republicans, that the stimulus package hasn't worked," Stearns said. "Now, why hasn't it worked? Has it been more political than competently awarded? Is there a possibility it has been grossly mismanaged? Has it been in areas where we can't compete?

"This goes to a larger issue," he continued. "Solyndra is a problem, obviously, but are there other Solyndras out there? Probably. But the larger issue is, why aren't we creating jobs with all this money going out the door? ... It's better to let the free market work and not let government subsidize and not pick winners and losers."