Controversy continues to swirl around the Obama administration’s bailout of the politically connected community lender ShoreBank, with new calls for an investigation into how the bank was able to secure tens of millions of dollars in Wall Street cash to stay alive, FOX Business has learned.

Sources tell FOX Business that House Republicans will offer an amendment to a sweeping investigation into how firms like Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS) and General Electric (GE) agreed to donate more than $140 million to the troubled bank, as part of the broader financial reform package being hammered out by House and Senate officials. Several executives at the banks told FOX Business that they received some political pressure from administration officials to contribute the money, which when combined with government bailout funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, would prevent a government liquidation of the bank.

Officials in the Obama administration have denied that they used political leverage to force the banks to make the contributions.

But House Republicans are dubious. ShoreBank has close connection to officials in the Obama administration, and all of the Wall Street firms and companies like GE taking part in the ShoreBank bailout were themselves bailed out with government funds and continue to feast on various programs offered by the Obama administration. 

Meanwhile, it’s still unclear why Wall Street firms would be interested in saving a community bank in Chicago that many financial analysts believe would have failed without its political ties because of its soured business model of creating “green” jobs and risky lines of business such as subprime lending.

As FOX Business previously reported, Spencer Bachus, the ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, wrote President Obama asking for "all records of communication - including emails, phone logs and meeting records - related to the ShoreBank negotiations that exist between the administration and representatives of ShoreBank, and executives of the banks involved in the bailout.” He made the same request to Neil Barofsky, the special inspector of the TARP program.

Bachus is keenly interested in the Goldman connection, since the big firm not only received federal bailout money but is also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department over its business practices, and has been looking to burnish its image. Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein even took the step of enlisting other CEOs in the bailout effort; one of the final contributors to the deal was GE Capital, which also received federal bailout money.

“What communications has the Administration had with Mr. Blankfein regarding ShoreBank," Bachus wrote back in May. "What role did Administration officials play in coordinating, supervising, or encouraging Mr. Blankfein's efforts?"

People close to Bachus say he has yet to receive any information from the White House and Barofsky’s staff has only recently started a dialogue over the matter.

The amendment is likely to face stiff opposition from both the Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, and the Obama administration, where key officials like economic adviser Valerie Jarrett have close ties to the bank. However, House Republicans are hoping that increased public outrage over the bank’s controversial bailout from near-certain insolvency and FDIC takeover will force the Democrats to reconsider.

The amendment “would mandate that the FDIC Inspector General, in conjunction with the Special Inspector General for the TARP (SIGTARP), conduct an investigation on the influence of political pressure asserted by any Executive Branch official, among others, on private sector individuals to provide assistance to financial institutions to prevent their failure… The investigation results must be reported to Congress no later than October 1, 2010.”

In addition, the amendment would prevent the TARP from handing out money to ShoreBank until the investigation is complete.

Sources tell FOX Business that while ShoreBank has guarantees from the big firms for the money, it still hasn’t received final approval from to receive approximately $25 million from the government as the controversy over the bailout continues to mount. A ShoreBank spokesman confirmed that the bank hasn’t received the money just yet. “We are working though it,” the spokesman said. “It’s not going as fast as we would like.”

Some people close to the bailout say government officials have slowed down the process of handing over the money because of the lingering controversy. A spokeswoman for the Obama administration had no immediate comment.

ShoreBank, based in Chicago, President Obama's hometown, has been singled out by the president for praise because of its lending activities in poor communities. In addition, Jarrett, has served on a Chicago civic organization with a ShoreBank director.

Jarrett has denied any involvement in pressuring the banks to make the donations.