SOURCE: Center for American Progress
CAP Director of Clean Energy Investment Richard W. Caperton testifies before House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Energy and Power and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Read the full testimony (CAP Action)
Chairmen Whitfield and Stearns, Ranking Members Rush and DeGette, and members of the committees, thank you for accepting my written testimony.
I am Richard W. Caperton, the Director of Clean Energy Investment at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a tax-exempt organization dedicated to improving the lives of Americans by transforming progressive values and ideas into policy.
The focus of this hearing is the “No More Solyndras Act.” In this testimony, I share my thoughts on the Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program and the “No More Solyndras Act.”
For more than a year, the House of Representatives has conducted an investigation into the Solyndra loan guarantee. In that time, you have received some 187,000 documents, held at least 10 hearings, and heard from dozens of witnesses, yet you have found no inappropriate or illegal behavior in the loan guarantee program. This hearing likely represents the culmination of your investigation and has informed the “No More Solyndras Act.”
My testimony explains why the loan guarantee program exists and describes the program’s history. I then show evidence that the program has moved innovative technologies forward while exposing taxpayers to minimal risk. Finally, I propose ways to improve the program by allowing it to fund many more projects with a full portfolio of financial tools and explain why the changes proposed in the “No More Solyndras Act” would be misguided.
CAP Director of Clean Energy Investment Richard W. Caperton testifies before House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Energy and Power and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Read the full testimony (CAP Action)