The Honorable Orrin Hatch Chairman

Committee on Finance

U.S. Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510  

Dear Chairman Hatch,  

On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I commend you for initiating an investigation into the disposition of funds associated with the Treasury Department’s Section 1603 cash grant program for renewable energy programs, which was established in the American Reinvestment and Renewal Act (ARRA), or the stimulus program.  Multiple news reports and audits by the Treasury Department Office of the Inspector General have indicated that the 1603 program morphed into a massive corporate welfare giveaway program, shelling out $24.9 billion to corporations and investment bankers supporting those corporations, predominantly in the solar industry.  A significant number of the recipients were either demonstrably financially unstable, and therefore too high-risk to receive taxpayer money, or already adequately well-funded by private capital and undeserving of taxpayer largesse.   

An October 26, 2011, Bloomberg Business article quoted an industry consultant and former investment banker, who said, “A significant number of (renewable-energy companies in the 1603 program) no doubt have inflated costs…The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.  This one’s a superhighway.”  

When the government picks industry winners and losers, more often than not, the taxpayers become the losers.  One solar CEO believes “subsidies stop being a catalyst, and start becoming a crutch” to the energy industry.   

CCAGW commends your actions and we urge other members of Congress to join you in this much-needed effort to exercise congressional oversight over Section 1603 and similarly vulnerable federal programs to prevent further abuse of the taxpayers’ money.     

Sincerely,  

Tom Schatz