House Panel Votes to Subpoena White House for Solyndra Records

From Fox News:

A Republican-led House panel voted Thursday to subpoena the White House for records related to Solyndra, the solar company that collapsed after receiving a $528 million loan.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the resolution 14-9 after Democrats tried to delay the vote during a contentious debate.

Democrats argued the resolution was too broad and gave Chairman Fred Upton too much power. But Republicans said a subpoena was necessary because the White House has denied or delayed requests for thousands of documents related to Solyndra.

Upton, a Michigan Republican, said getting White House documents on Solyndra was like “extracting a tooth without anesthesia” — painful and time-consuming.

The White House immediately slammed the vote, saying it has “cooperated extensively with the committee’s investigation by producing over 85,000 pages of documents, including 20,000 pages produced just yesterday afternoon.”

“And all of the materials that have been disclosed affirm what we said on Day One: this was a merit-based decision made by the Department of Energy,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.

“We’d like to see as much passion in House Republicans for creating jobs as we see in this investigation,” he said. “We are disappointed that the committee has refused to discuss their requests with us in good faith, and has instead chosen a partisan route, proceeding with subpoenas that are unprecedented and unwarranted.”

Congressional Republicans began investigating Solyndra months before the California company filed for bankruptcy protection in September and laid off 1,100 workers. The bankruptcy proved to be embarrassing for the White House amid revelations that federal officials were warned it had problems but nonetheless continued to support it, and sent President Obama to visit the company and praise it publicly.