USA TODAY Review: Republican lawmakers backed U.S. energy loans

WASHINGTON - Republican members of Congress investigating federal loan guarantees to now-bankrupt energy companies told Energy Secretary Steven Chu last week that they never asked him to speed up similar projects in their states.

But that's exactly what some did, according to a review of 484 congressional support letters obtained by USA TODAY. Some letters, for example, urged quick approval of a $2 billion loan guarantee for the American Centrifuge, a uranium enrichment project projected to create hundreds of jobs in states including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

"It is imperative that this application move forward now," said a letter signed by five members of Congress, including Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa.

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