Obama 750 million solar company

Did Obama exaggerate about Solyndra loan?

President Obama exaggerated when defending his administration’s approval of a $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, a now-defunct solar company. Obama referred to Solyndra’s loan at an Oct. 6 press conference as “a loan guarantee program that predates me.” That’s not accurate.

Did the White House contact Solyndra investors about a loan guarantee?

Noting that one of Solyndra’s major investors was a venture-capital fund linked to George Kaiser, a bundler for Obama’s 2008 campaign, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce wrote a letter requesting any communications that the White House had with Solyndra or Solyndra investors about the loan guarantee.

Does the Solyndra loan guarantee program predate Obama?

The loan guarantee program that provided financing for Solyndra, however, does not predate Obama. There are two loan guarantee programs for renewable energy companies. The first was created under section 1703 of Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

How much money has the Energy Department put into a loan program?

So far, the Energy Department has finalized loan guarantees for 33 projects and has conditional commitments for five others. In total, the Energy Department says that it has put almost $36 billion into the program, according to information published on its website.