More subpoenas are on the way as the House Energy and Commerce Committee prepares to mark the one-year anniversary of its investigation into the bankrupt solar energy company Solyndra on Friday.

The panel's chairman, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), and his lead investigator, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), announced this afternoon that a business meeting would be held Friday to authorize issuing subpoenas to five White House staffers.

Topping that list are Heather Zichal, White House energy and climate change adviser, and Aditya Kumar, an aide to former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Energy and Commerce Republicans also want to interview a trio of top Office of Management and Budget employees: Kevin Carroll, Kelly Colyar and Fouad Saad. Republicans said today that all five were closely involved in the events surrounding the downfall of the solar tube manufacturer, which received a half-billion-dollar loan guarantee from the Department of Energy.

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 committee first asked the White House for access to the five staffers in a Feb. 9 letter. The committee noted in a news release today that while the administration failed to respond to that letter, the meeting to issue the subpoenas could still be canceled if the White House makes the five available to speak with committee investigators before Friday.

"The long and short of it is we're continuing our investigation, and we think this is the next step," Stearns said this afternoon. "We're hopeful the White House will realize we're serious."

Stearns' subcommittee has already issued three subpoenas in its investigation, including one for all White House documents relating to Solyndra.

That subpoena has been the subject of months of squabbling between lawyers for the committee and the White House.

Late last month, Stearns hinted that he was preparing to move toward contempt of Congress proceedings over the "stonewalling" his investigators have run into as they try to collect Solyndra-related documents.

Since then, he's backed off that option. This afternoon, he said, "We're not at that point yet."

But the committee today issued a Feb. 21 deadline for the White House to hand over all documents.

House Energy and Commerce ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said on his way to a House vote this afternoon that he had only just heard about the newest subpoena request through press inquiries.

"I would want to hear from the chairman, but given my past experience, where he quickly issues subpoenas and threatens contempt, I'm a little skeptical it's needed," said Waxman, who has described the committee's Solyndra probe as a politically motivated "fishing expedition."

Across the Capitol, Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said this afternoon that the ongoing battle between the House and White House is all the more reason why the Senate should open its own inquiry into DOE's loan guarantee program (see related story).

"Just because the other body is looking into this does not absolve us from the obligation of looking into programs that are in our jurisdiction," Murkowski said.