mr. whitfield. >> well, thank you mr. stear. i'delighted e ovsiveateeya r omeereni together in this important hearing. everyone in america is very much aware f solyndra nd slyndra fithdegomee frmany. os gha ilon dollars loan guarantee to a company so inept that it's gone bankrupt unless the american taxpayer holding the bag. second, the facthat george isma esin ndaso jo ra f president obama and kept a questioning motivation of this loan and solyndra is not the only cub any thtivaoa ra tise nk. u'otco power, balance solar and others. all things onsidered, there is more than enough evidence to declare this program a failure. infac,oeeid w s ffoe president. it has been a failure for a lot of reasons. one, lack of transparency. two, costly for taxpayers at a time when we have andhfrid asedealbtdnnl fi thhc nth case of bankruptcy, the lawyers of solyndra and the lawyers for the department of energy and the administration agreed to subordinate the taxpayer s that the private invesrs get their neyc istane ay last is really almost unbel

mr. whitfield -- six minutes for mr. whitfield. >> well, thank you, mr. stearns, and i'm delighted that the oversight and investigation and energy and power subcommittees are joining together today in this important hearing. everyone in america is very much aware of solyndra. and solyndra is troublesome for many reasons. first, the federal government chose to give half a billion dollars loan guarantee to a company so inapt that it is gone bankrupt and left the american taxpayer holding the bag. second, fact that george kaiser, a major investor in solyndra, was also a major fundraiser for president obama, cast a questioning motivation of this loan. and solyndra is not the only company that received a loan guarantee that has gone bankrupt. you've got beacon power, you've got abound solar, and there are others. all things considered, there is more than enough evidence to declare this program a failure. in fact, some people said it really was a slush fund for the president. it's been a failure for a lot of reasons. one, lack of transparency. two, costly for t

mr. whitfield. >> thank you, mr. stearns. i want to welcome the members of the first panel. we appreciate your taking time to be witnesses on the morning of what we consider very start issues because our responsibility as taxpayers are very important, particularly at a time and we have a gigantic federal debt. our two witnesses on the first panel are first minister david frantz at the loan program office at the u.s. department of energy. and the second is the honorable dr. kathleen hogan, deputy assistant secretary for energy efficient the, office of energy efficiency and renewable energy at the department of energy. so once again, thank you for being with us. we appreciate it. i'm going to call in each one of you to give a five-minute opening statement and at the end of that time, will give members an opportunity to ask questions. so mr. frantz, we will begin that deal with five minutes for an opening statement. >> chairman whitfield and strings come in member is rush into gatt and members of the set committee, thank you very much for the opportunity to testify before you t

mr. whitfield, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. whitfield: they helped write the president's health care bill, and two years ago when the discussion was on the floor about this bill, our friends on the other side of the aisle never talked about tax increases in the bill. i assume they didn't talk about it because they didn't know about it because the speaker at that time said we'll find out what's in the bill after we pass the bill. well, when the supreme court upheld this law, they did so because of the taxing power of the congress and they said certain things were taxes and that brought up the issue of taxes. so when we went through this will, we found 21 new taxes on the american people. that will amount to about $800 billion over 10 years. taxes on high cost health plans. taxes on health insurance providers. taxes on brand-name drugs. taxes on medical devices. taxes on flexible spending accounts. and others. i could go and on and on and i would urge the repeal of this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time ha