Dem Lawmakers Hinder Federal Investigation Into Biden Admin's $400 Billion Green Energy Loans
Democratic lawmakers are seeking to hinder a federal watchdog investigation into misconduct within the Biden administration’s $400 billion green energy loan program—a sign Democrats could be growing concerned about what the long-running probe has uncovered.
The inspector general for the Department of Energy has spent over a year investigating the Loan Programs Office, which has been accused of dishing out billions in government loans to politically connected recipients, including companies teetering on bankruptcy and entities linked to foreign adversaries.
Now Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have taken the unusual step of launching an investigation into the investigators. In a letter last week, Democrats accused DOE inspector general Teri Donaldson of "bypass[ing] competition requirements that exist to ensure taxpayer dollars are not wasted" when she hired an outside law firm, Rabalais & Associates, to assist in her probe.
Energy insiders said the Democrats’ move to target the inspector general was "weird" and indicates that the Biden administration is concerned about what the forthcoming IG report will reveal.
"To be investigating the IG, that’s a little weird," one former DOE official told the Washington Free Beacon. "They’re trying to discredit the report before it’s even released."
"That probably means the report’s pretty bad," the former official added.
Donaldson, who defended the law firm’s hiring in a written response on Wednesday, is expected to release a report on the loan office that could contain damaging revelations about the Biden administration's program. The once-sleepy loan office, whose budget was expanded more than 2,200 percent under President Joe Biden, now has a lending authority that rivals the commercial loan portfolio size of Wells Fargo and other international banks.
In recent weeks, the loan office has been scrambling to push out multibillion-dollar loans before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Donaldson told lawmakers in 2023 that her office was "looking at conflicts of interest particularly in the Loan Programs Office," following Free Beacon reports that the loan program’s director had personal, professional, or financial ties to some of the companies receiving loans. Last summer, Donaldson expanded the probe by hiring Houston-based energy law group Rabalais & Associates.
In a Dec. 5 letter to Donaldson, House Democrats accused her of ignoring competitive contractor requirements by hiring the Rabalais firm.
"Awarding such a substantial portion of your annual budget to a single lawyer without soliciting bids not only raises question about whether it was appropriate to make the award, it also casts doubt on the necessity of increasing your office’s budget given your decision to outsource a significant amount of OIG work," said the letter from ranking Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.), Rep. Diana DeGette (D., Colo.), and Kathy Castor (D., Fla.).
Donaldson responded, saying the contract was handled by the DOE’s acquisition authorities and complied with procurement rules.
She also defended her probe as "long over-due," noting that the loan office had a "checkered history" and hasn’t been properly reviewed in over a decade. In 2012, the Loan Programs Office was embroiled in scandal after issuing a $500 million loan to Solyndra, a politically connected solar company that went bankrupt and defaulted.
A subsequent investigation found misconduct in the program. The loan office went into dormancy until it was revived under the Biden administration with a massive influx of funding from infrastructure and spending bills.
"LPO is engaged in a very high-risk endeavor," wrote Donaldson in her response to House Democrats. "The taxpayers are entitled to oversight of this funding, especially considering the dramatically increased risks."
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