The Obama administration said Thursday it isn’t shutting down its $25 billion Energy Department auto retooling loan program, despite the fact that it hasn’t made a new award in more than two years and has no pending applications.This week, the Republican-led U.S. House rejected an amendment that would have eliminated the $6 million in funding to staff the office that oversees the $25 billion Advanced Vehicle Technology Manufacturing program.
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., said cutting the funding “would hurt federal oversight of the more than $8 billion in loans already given. As our committee report states, there are no new applications for this program, and the Department of Energy doesn’t expect any. The committee recommendation includes the $6 million as a reasonable amount to provide oversight and direction to the existing loan portfolio and no more.”
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