{"id":1225687,"date":"2022-01-19T18:37:19","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T23:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1225687"},"modified":"2022-01-19T18:37:25","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T23:37:25","slug":"oversight-republicans-probe-biden-backed-solar-firm-over-its-political-donations-to-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oversight-republicans-probe-biden-backed-solar-firm-over-its-political-donations-to-democrats\/","title":{"rendered":"Oversight Republicans Probe Biden-Backed Solar Firm Over Its Political Donations To Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Foversight-republicans-probe-biden-backed-solar-firm-over-its-political-donations-to-democrats%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1225687&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Top Republicans on the House Oversight Committee opened a probe into a possible pay-to-play scheme that allegedly resulted in a massive loan for a solar firm that a Democratic megadonor has a stake in.<\/p>\n<p>Oversight Ranking Member James Comer and Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Ralph Norman expressed concern that the company, First Solar, received a $500 million loan from the Biden administration in December, in a <a href=\"https:\/\/republicans-oversight.house.gov\/release\/comer-norman-probe-biden-administrations-taxpayer-funded-solar-loan-to-political-donor\/\">letter<\/a> to the U.S. International Development Finance Institution (DFC) on Tuesday. First Solar is partially owned by Lukas Walton, the billionaire heir to the Walmart fortune and a prolific Democratic donor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are conducting oversight of the U.S. International Development Finance Institution\u2019s recent $500 million loan to First Solar, Inc,\u201d Comer and Norman <a href=\"https:\/\/republicans-oversight.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/First-Solar-Letter_final-draft.pdf\">wrote<\/a> to Acting DFC CEO Dev Jagadesan in the letter. \u201cThe loan, which is DFC\u2019s \u2018largest single debt financing transaction,\u2019 raises questions about the involvement of political considerations in the analysis and decision-making processes at the DFC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are concerned the close relationship between Mr. Walton and the Biden Administration may have played a role in securing financing for First Solar at the expense of American taxpayers,\u201d the letter continued. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/12\/01\/nuclear-energy-joe-manchin-john-barrasso\/\">(RELATED: \u2018Cannot Power The World With Solar Panels And Wind Turbines Alone\u2019: Bipartisan Lawmakers Advocate For Increased Nuclear Energy)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>They also noted Walton\u2019s \u201cextensive history fundraising for Democrats\u201d and questioned if that played a role in granting the loan. In 2020, Walton donated $5,600 to President Joe Biden\u2019s presidential campaign and another $142,000 to the Democratic National Committee, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nwaonline.com\/news\/2020\/oct\/18\/data-shows-some-walton-giving-leans-to-left\/\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7355736\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7355736\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lukas Walton speaks about the Walton Family Foundations environmental programs in July 2018. (Walton Family Foundation\/YouTube\/Screenshot)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Republican lawmakers requested Jagadesan share the entirety of the agency\u2019s communications with the White House related to First Solar by early February.<\/p>\n<p>The DFC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dfc.gov\/media\/press-releases\/dfc-announces-approval-provide-500-million-debt-financing-first-solars\">announced<\/a> that it would approve $500 million of debt financing for First Solar on Dec. 7. The loan will help finance a massive $684 million solar panel factory in Tamil Nadu, India, <a href=\"https:\/\/investor.firstsolar.com\/news\/press-release-details\/2021\/First-Solar-Intends-to-Expand-Global-Manufacturing-Footprint-with-New-3.3-GW-Facility-in-India\/default.aspx\">projected<\/a> to produce 3.3 gigawatts of energy capacity per year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Biden Administration appears to be throwing American taxpayer money at questionable technologies to repay political debts,\u201d Comer and Norman wrote. \u201cWe must ensure that federal financing and loan programs are good stewards of taxpayer money by operating in a transparent manner, free from political interference and not subject to the whims of the current political climate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Walton owns a 4.9% stake in First Solar worth more than $422.5 million, <a href=\"https:\/\/fintel.io\/so\/us\/fslr\/walton-lukas-t\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according<\/a> to financial analytics firm Fintel. The billionaire Democratic financier <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/money\/companies\/walmart-heir-sells-86-millions-shares-of-first-solar-stock\/ar-BB199ahR\">sold<\/a> 8.6 million shares of the company in September 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The White House didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>The Washington Free Beacon <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/house-oversight-committee-launches-probe-into-biden-backed-solar-company\/\">first reported<\/a> the GOP probe.<\/p>\n<p>As part of its aggressive climate agenda, the Biden administration has <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/12\/22\/joe-biden-administration-interior-department-solar-panels-renewable-energy\/\">moved forward<\/a> on several solar farm projects across 10.8 million acres in California and <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/01\/12\/biden-administration-gulf-of-mexico-wind-farms-environmental-impact\/\">pushed<\/a> funding for <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/10\/13\/joe-biden-interior-department-wind-farm-renewable-energy\/\">multiple wind projects<\/a> along the nation\u2019s coasts.<\/p>\n<p>Solar and wind expansion, though, has been&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/10\/15\/joe-biden-interior-department-deb-haaland-europe-energy-wind\/\">criticized<\/a>&nbsp;by experts who say the two energy sources are unreliable and intermittent. On average, solar panels produce just 30% of their total energy capacity while wind farms produce 45% of their capacity,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/outlooks\/aeo\/pdf\/electricity_generation.pdf#page=7\">according<\/a>&nbsp;to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Top Republicans on the House Oversight Committee opened a probe into a possible pay-to-play scheme that allegedly resulted in a massive loan for a solar firm that a Democratic megadonor &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1225687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1225687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1225687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1225687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1225687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}