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So Long, Solyndra, So Long Stimulus Dollars
When President Obama signed the economic stimulus package into law on February 17, 2009, many of us braced ourselves for waste, fraud or abuse. It’s impossible to send hundreds of billions of tax dollars to thousands of entities across the country without at least some of the money being stolen, misused or just invested badly.
The now-defunct solar energy company Solyndra is the latest example of stimulus money wasted and likely gone forever. The company received a $528 million stimulus loan from the Energy Department in a much-highlighted “green” jobs initiative. Now the company is bankrupt, and it seems unlikely, if not impossible, that the taxpayers will ever recoup their investment.
This week, I asked the top watchdog of stimulus money whether the office received any indications of problems regarding Solyndra and whether the watchdog office plans to take any action going forward to try to account for the $528 million in stimulus funds awarded to the company.
The stimulus oversight office should do everything it can to fill in the knowledge gaps regarding what happened to the taxpayers’ money. An accounting of where the money went should help the government learn from its many mistakes with this project specifically and with stimulus money in general.
This isn’t the first cautionary tale regarding stimulus money and not the first project I’ve questioned.
A government audit called into question $27.4 million in stimulus money spent by the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Also, the home weatherization program for low-income residents has been the subject of well-documented problems in several states. Illinois had substandard work performed by contractors. West Virginia's program had not only poor workmanship, but also nepotism and billing errors. The federal agencies that write the checks have an obligation to make sure the money is spent as intended and as Solyndra shows us, to do homework and withhold the check if the project doesn’t seem like a good investment in the first place.
September 30, 2011
When President Obama signed the economic stimulus package into law on February 17, 2009, many of us braced ourselves for waste, fraud or abuse. It’s impossible to send hundreds of billions of tax dollars to thousands of entities across the country without at least some of the money being stolen, misused or just invested badly.
The now-defunct solar energy company Solyndra is the latest example of stimulus money wasted and likely gone forever. The company received a $528 million stimulus loan from the Energy Department in a much-highlighted “green” jobs initiative. Now the company is bankrupt, and it seems unlikely, if not impossible, that the taxpayers will ever recoup their investment.
This week, I asked the top watchdog of stimulus money whether the office received any indications of problems regarding Solyndra and whether the watchdog office plans to take any action going forward to try to account for the $528 million in stimulus funds awarded to the company.
The stimulus oversight office should do everything it can to fill in the knowledge gaps regarding what happened to the taxpayers’ money. An accounting of where the money went should help the government learn from its many mistakes with this project specifically and with stimulus money in general.
This isn’t the first cautionary tale regarding stimulus money and not the first project I’ve questioned.
A government audit called into question $27.4 million in stimulus money spent by the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Also, the home weatherization program for low-income residents has been the subject of well-documented problems in several states. Illinois had substandard work performed by contractors. West Virginia's program had not only poor workmanship, but also nepotism and billing errors. The federal agencies that write the checks have an obligation to make sure the money is spent as intended and as Solyndra shows us, to do homework and withhold the check if the project doesn’t seem like a good investment in the first place.
September 30, 2011