Energy Dept.: Law Prevents Us From Doing What We Want, Therefore the Law Doesn’t Apply

National Review - The Corner ^ | 10-14-11 | Andrew McCarthy

[afraidfortherepublic]

How absurd is the Obama DOE’s explanation for violating the federal law against prioritizing private lenders ahead of taxpayers (i.e., sliding the president’s Solyndra cronies ahead of the public)? As Andrew’s post demonstrates, it is laugh out loud absurd — or at least it would be if the scheme were not so outrageous.

Let’s put aside for the moment that, by the administration’s “reasoning,” the public could be robbed on every loan by simply “renegotiating” it 10 seconds after it was finalized. What is truly priceless is the administration’s claim that the law had to be ignored because “investors are unlikely to make an equity investment in a distressed company on commercially acceptable terms” if they’re not given this protection, and therefore to execute the law faithfully (that little thing the executive branch is supposed to do) would “preclude the use of a common restructuring strategy.”

First, there is nothing “common” about these loans at all. They amount to the administration using public money to prop up an industry (not to mention a startling number of campaign contributors) that wouldn’t need the propping if it were viable. In the private market, it is fine for distressed companies to attract investors by the common strategy of restructuring loans on favorable terms — but even there, a company could not run roughshod over the contractual rights of other lenders.

Here, by contrast, we are dealing with a situation in which many of the companies will naturally be distressed. If the ventures were viable, investors could avail themselves of private lenders and wouldn’t require taxpayer help. That is, the green energy investor already gets a huge break: access to low-interest credit guarantees he wouldn’t get in common business arrangements. The government, in defiance of the market’s common functioning, has already picked him as a winner even though his business is apt to be a loser. Even if there weren’t a statute prohibiting it, why would we want public officials, at the public’s expense, to give him the windfall of a “common restructuring strategy” available to investors who take risks from which government intervention has spared him.

Second, remember when President Bush ignored the letter of FISA to monitor enemy communications in wartime? Unlike wading into “green energy” venture capitalism, that episode involved an actual obligation of government (national security) and a constitutional power of the president (foreign intelligence gathering) that the highest federal surveillance court had said Congress could not diminish by statute. Yet congressional Democrats, the media, Eric Holder and the rest of the Lawyer Left, howled — with some even calling for Bush’s impeachment. Now they’re apparently ready to give Obama that “blank check” they used to tell us presidents had to be denied lest our Constitution’s delicate checks and balances be destroyed. Funny that we haven’t heard many Holder lectures about the vaunted “rule of law” when it comes to Solyndra.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I had to shorten the title. Should read:

Obama Energy Department: The Law Prevents Us From Doing What We Want, Therefore the Law Doesn’t Apply

[DTogo]

Very interchangeable!

Obama Justice Department: The Law Prevents Us From Doing What We Want, Therefore the Law Doesn’t Apply

Obama Health & Human Services Department: The Law Prevents Us From Doing What We Want, Therefore the Law Doesn’t Apply

Obama Homeland Security Department: The Law Prevents Us From Doing What We Want, Therefore the Law Doesn’t Apply

[puppypusher]

The Department of Energy should be required to change its Official name to the Department of Energy Depredation since it is No longer capable of doing the Job Congress gave it during the 1970’s.

I think the DOE’s Funding should be killed.Why are we providing billions in funding to an agency of the Federal Government that Fails to do its Prime Function and that is to find and Create energy.

[MarkL]

What is truly priceless is the administration’s claim that the law had to be ignored because “investors are unlikely to make an equity investment in a distressed company on commercially acceptable terms” if they’re not given this protection, and therefore to execute the law faithfully (that little thing the executive branch is supposed to do) would “preclude the use of a common restructuring strategy.”

What makes this even more precious is that this very same administration did EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THEY NOW CLAIM THEY HAVE TO DO with the auto company government take overs. Rather than give the LEGAL protections to the investors, the administration knowingly broke bankruptcy laws in order to give controlling interest in GM and Chrysler to Obama supporters, while screwing the actual investors!

They can't even break the law consistently!

Mark

[Texas resident]

Whole enchilada

The obama regime does not pay attention to any of those pesky laws while enforcing the slightest infraction on his political enemies. Using our systems against us.
Like the 9/11 terrorists. Guess the obama gang learned from them.