House probing $528M loan to failed solar company

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s eagerness to deliver economic stimulus may have influenced a federal review of a loan to a now-bankrupt solar panel manufacturer, a move that may have left taxpayers on the hook for a $528 million debt, House Republicans said Wednesday.

The panel examining the loan disclosed e-mails that appear to show senior staff at the White House Office of Management and Budget chafing about having to conduct “rushed approvals” of federal loan guarantees designed to help jumpstart the nation’s renewable energy industry.