House Oversight committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa believes Energy Secretary Steven Chu is in serious trouble.
“Secretary Chu is a brilliant individual who seems to be [in] over his head,” Issa told The Daily Caller during an exclusive interview on Saturday. “And that’s not a political statement. … I think everyone wants to see DOE succeed.”
Issa said the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which he chairs, plans to take a closer look at Chu’s Department of Energy in the wake of the Solyndra loan scandal.
“Right now there’s a question about whether or not he [Chu] is able to turn the ship around after a series of failures in which he himself said technically they did the right thing, but obviously, realistically, they did the wrong thing in the [loan guarantee] awards,” Issa said. “So that’s one of those where we’re hoping that people bolster around or, in fact, somebody that could handle it — maybe less smart, but more capable — would come in.”
Solyndra, a solar-panel manufacturer, went bankrupt shortly after the Obama administration finalized a $535 million loan guarantee to subsidize its operations. House Republicans investigating Solyndra’s demise allege that political cronyism helped secure that federal funding.
Issa maintained that his criticisms of the Department of Energy are nonpartisan, and aren’t specific to Chu personally. “We have a number of issues with the Department of Energy, and we’ve had a number of investigations,” he said. “But again, it’s not about the secretary. It is about this organization [which] has a long track history of problems under both Republicans and Democrats.”
During testimony Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Chu refused to apologize for Solyndra’s failure. “Well, it’s extremely unfortunate what has happened with Solyndra,” he said. “If you look back and look at the time, the decisions being made, was there incompetence, was there any influence of a political nature? And I would have to say no.”
Chu’s resistance to accept responsibility for Solyndra’s failures has sparked some calls for his replacement.
House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Cliff Stearns said he thinks Chu should be removed from his position.
“I just think he has failed the test, and in my personal opinion I agree with Dan Carol’s email that at this point he should probably be replaced by the president,” Stearns said Thursday in a statement. “The fact that he’s unaware of so many things makes me think that he’s not the best person for the position.”
Stearns was referring to a recently discovered internal email from former Obama campaign staffer Dan Carol, who sent the message to the White House when Solyndra was first starting to exhibit signs of trouble.
“I would respectfully suggest that the president be strongly encouraged to make major leadership changes as soon as possible,” Carol wrote.
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