Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Within 24 hours of President Barack Obama defending his administration’s decision to give a financial injection to solar energy company Solyndra, now under investigation after going bankrupt, the Obama administration lost its first high-level official directly connected with Solyndra.

Jonathan Silver, executive director of the Department of Energy’s Loans Programs Office since 2009, resigned to become a distinguished visiting fellow at Third Way, the Department of Energy confirmed.

“In early July, shortly after the fiscal year 2011 budget was completed by Congress and it became clear that no significant new funds were included for the loan program, Jonathan Silver informed me that he intended to return to the private sector shortly after Sept. 30, the statutory end-date of the 1705 loan guarantee program,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu in a statement.

“Since he joined the department in November 2009, Jonathan assembled and managed a truly outstanding team that has transformed the program into the world leader in financing innovative clean energy projects,” Chu said.

Commenting on Silver’s work at the department, Chu added, “Under his leadership, the loan program has demonstrated considerable success, with a broad portfolio of investments that will help American companies compete in the global clean energy market.”

On Silver’s decision to leave, Chu said, “Because of my absolute confidence in Jonathan and the outstanding work he has done, I would welcome his continued service at the department, but I completely understand the decision he has made,” concluding, “I want to thank him for his tremendous service to our country and for the work he and his outstanding team have done to renew American leadership in clean energy innovation.”

Responding to Silver’s resignation, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) said in a statement, “Mr. Silver’s resignation does not solve the problem. We are in the midst of the Solyndra investigation and just days removed from Mr. Silver’s mad rush to finalize the last $4.7 billion in loans before the statutory deadline.”

Attacking Democratic President Obama, the Republican lawmakers said, “Just this past Monday, the President declared the loan guarantee program sound and said that it was to be expected that one company like Solyndra could fail. But today the President changed his tune, stating, ‘The nature of these programs are going to be ones in which, you know, for every success there may be one that does not work out as well.’ Does the Obama Administration now expect that half of these companies will fail? American taxpayers are already on the hook for the half billion dollar Solyndra bust – what other shoes does this Administration expect to drop?”

The lawmakers noted that Silver, who was responsible for doling out $18 billion in stimulus loan guarantees, appeared before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on Sept. 14 for a hearing on Solyndra and the DOE loan guarantee program.”

Earlier on Thursday, answering a question on Solyndra fiasco at a news conference in the White House Obama said, “There were going to be some companies that did not work out; Solyndra was one of them.,” arguing that, “the process by which the decision was made was on the merits. It was straightforward. And of course there were going to be debates internally when you’re dealing with something as complicated as this.”

After further prodding by journalists about the warnings his administration received, Obama said, “And all I can say is that the Department of Energy made these decisions based on their best judgment about what would make sense.”

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