Energy Secretary Steven Chu highlights the Obama administration's push for "clean energy" technologies in written testimony he is expected to present tomorrow in a House hearing on the Solyndra loan debacle -- a presentation that a key Republican said misses the mark.

Florida Republican Cliff Stearns, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's investigations panel, said in a brief interview today that Chu's comments ignore the central focus of the House probe into the failed solar energy company, which received half a billion dollars in federal funding.

"He can talk about the big picture" of the global energy market, Stearns said. But "the hearing tomorrow is about Solyndra, it going bankrupt, being investigated by the FBI and the lack of administrative control by Secretary Chu and the Department of Energy."

Bottom line, Stearns said: "The main issue is Solyndra."

In excerpts of his prepared testimony released by DOE, Chu says the United States is in a "fierce" global race to capture a piece of the $80 billion clean energy market, and he praises Congress for demonstrating its interest in winning that race.

"We appreciate the support the loan programs have received from many members of Congress -- including nearly 500 letters to the Department -- who have urged us to accelerate our efforts and to fund worthy projects in their states," Chu's testimony says. "While we are disappointed in the outcome of this particular loan, we support Congress' mandate to finance the deployment of innovative technologies, and believe that our portfolio of loans does so responsibly."

While Chu may be looking to the next project and global trends, Sterns said, "there's a huge amount of concern [among committee members] for the loss of half a billion dollars" in the Solyndra case.

And while the half-dozen hearings and subcommittee business meetings that have taken place over the last 10 weeks seem to have been building up to Chu's testimony, Stearns emphasized his committee's investigation will not end tomorrow when Chu leaves the witness chair.

The tug of war over what the White House would release to committee investigators has dragged on for two months and resulted in the panel's issuing a subpoena. Democrats decried the move as unprecedented and unnecessary, but Stearns and Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) have said they have no other choice.

"The next step is to get the White House to comply with all the subpoena requests. There's enough evidence to see that we haven't gotten that," Stearns said. "We've got to take steps to get all these emails from the White house and not have them selectively given to us."

Stearns said the battle could lead to further committee hearings after the Thanksgiving recess.