Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who recently appeared to admit that Republicans' ongoing probes of the Department of Energy's loan program are largely a play to win votes in November, is holding a hearing next week on that very program.
Jordan's subcommittee on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday will hold a hearing entitled, "The Obama Administration's Green Energy Gamble: What Have All the Taxpayer Subsidies Achieved?"
In March, following yet another hearing in which U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu testified about the department's loan guarantee program, Jordan appeared to signal that Republican's ongoing censure of the program -- from which the bankrupt California-based solar company Solyndra and others benefited -- was politically motivated.
"Our staff will continue to dig into it and see," Jordan told Environment & Energy Daily at the time. "But what I hope happens is we stop doing these kind of things ... this whole cronyism approach to the marketplace.
"Ultimately, we'll stop it on Election Day, hopefully. And bringing attention to these things helps the voters and citizens of the country make the kind of decision that I hope helps them as they evaluate who they are going to vote for in November."
Jordan's press secretary, Meghan Snyder, has argued the quote was misinterpreted. "To say that elections drive the Oversight Committee, we believe is incorrect," she told The Huffington Post at the time.
The the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight, and Government Spending, chaired by Jordan, will hold its hearing on Wednesday morning in the Rayburn House Office Building.