T he administration’s 2009 budget for the Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program requests $38.5 billion in loan guarantee authority—more than 4 times the FY08 budget request.

Of the $38.5 billion request, the budget proposes $18.5 billion in loan guarantee authority for nuclear projects and $20 billion in authority for all other eligible projects.

While the request mirrors that of last year’s Omnibus, it reflects a dramatic increase from the President’s FY08 request. In FY2008, the President requested $9 billion in loan guarantees for the program overall and $4 billion for nuclear facilities.

Both the Department of Energy Inspector General and the Congressional Budget office have acknowledged this program poses significant risk for taxpayers. Many have also expressed concerns including the DOE Inspector General, regarding the DOE’s capabilities of successfully administering such a program. In the 1980’s DOE lost billions of taxpayer dollars investing in the synthetic fuels industry.