Democrats love to protect and defend the media — until real reporters ask direct questions.
Biden was addressing a gaggle of journalists at the Iowa State Fair on Thursday when a Washington Examiner reporter asked why he should be trusted with “green energy subsidies” when he oversaw federal grants to Solyndra, a failed solar panel company that took $535 million in federal loan guarantees.
“Who are you?” he demanded before the reporter revealed the Washington Examiner.
“What are you talking about?” a seemingly confused Biden followed up.
“I’m talking about Solyndra. You already orchestrated that. You want more green energy subsidies. Why should people trust you now?” she said.
Biden continued to look confused, responding, “Because we should not be supporting any of these subsidies.”
But the reality is, the failed company took hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from the economic stimulus program in 2010, which was overseen by Biden.
Fortune reported in 2015:
The loan program was created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, but Obama’s stimulus plan first funded it. Loan guarantees basically says the government will pay back the loans to a company if borrowers can’t. In many cases, like in Solyndra’s case, the government also provided the loans as well, via the Federal Financing Bank.
Anyone who’s followed this story closely for the past few years won’t be surprised by the report, but some of the details of Solyndra’s executives’ deception are laid bare. The details are worth reading because they are actually similar to tactics Silicon Valley startups sometimes use when raising money, telling their stories to the press, selling their goods, and negotiating business with partners.
These not-so-uncommon deceptions are writ large because of the enormous size of the Department of Energy’s $535 million loan guarantee, because of the large size of the contracts with customers (hundreds of millions of dollars) and because of the political and media spectacle that emerged around Solyndra after its bankruptcy. More than anything, the report highlights that a startup as high-risk as Solyndra should not have ever been considered for such a large loan guarantee from the federal government.
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