Preparing Now for Expected Congressional Oversight: Newly Released Oversight Plans Signal Investigations of Private Parties

Recently, three key investigative committees of the House of Representatives—the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Judiciary Committee, and Energy and Commerce Committee—each adopted their respective committee’s oversight plan for the new Congress, offering a window into the committees’ investigative priorities for the next two years. The newly adopted oversight plans provide insights into the companies and industries most likely to draw congressional scrutiny from these three significant committees.

Under clause 2(d) of Rule X of the House, each authorizing committee is required to adopt and submit an oversight plan to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on House Administration by March 1 after the start of a new Congress. The Oversight and Government Reform Committee collects the individual oversight plans and later publishes a comprehensive collection by April 15.

With some exceptions, the current oversight plans described below align with the plans adopted by these committees in the last Congress, and the Republican Members of the committees rebuffed the Democratic Members’ efforts to expand the plans to encompass oversight of the new Trump Administration. During a series of contentious markups, the committees rejected various amendments that would have expanded the scope of the oversight plans to include reviews of the Trump Administration directives, federal funding freezes, the activities of the Department of Government Efficiency, and other topics. As a result, the oversight plans tend to focus on private sector investigations, suggesting that investigations of private sector interests may take an outsized role in these committees’ oversight activities in the current Congress.

Below we highlight those elements of the committees’ oversight plans that are mostly likely to have implications for private sector entities. The plans are especially relevant to clients in industries including energy and environment, aerospace and defense, communications, technology, artificial intelligence, higher education, and pharmaceuticals.

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

• Federal Funding Recipients. As in the last Congress, the Committee plans to investigate alleged “instances of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement” of federal resources. This includes both ensuring “appropriate management” of taxpayer funds by federal contractors and oversight of federal grant programs, including post-award reporting requirements. With the Committee and others already signaling a desire to closely review Biden-era spending, recipients of federal funds—particularly those who received funding in connection with programs authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—may face increased scrutiny.
• Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, and the Private Sector. In its oversight plan, the Committee reasserts its continued concern with “the increasing number of cyberattacks” affecting the private sector and its desire to ensure that “corporate entities take appropriate steps to protect private- and public- sector networks and information systems that are critical to the nation’s infrastructure and security, and the personal information of all Americans.” Throughout recent years, congressional investigations have focused on cybersecurity incidents at both federal agencies and private companies, including retail companies, financial institutions, healthcare corporations, and government contractors.

Committee on the Judiciary

• Online Speech. The Committee plans to expand its ongoing probe into alleged collusion between government actors and social media companies to censor political speech. Indeed, the Committee has already issued subpoenas to various tech companies, seeking the companies’ communications with foreign governments regarding their compliance with foreign censorship laws, regulations, judicial orders, or other government-initiated efforts. Likewise, the Committee’s oversight plan indicates that the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust will focus on examining “how foreign regulators and private companies use their power to silence free speech online.”
• Artificial Intelligence Technology. The Committee plans to focus on examining risks posed by artificial intelligence technologies. The Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, for example, plans to examine “the effect of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence on free speech.” The Subcommittee on the Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet plans to explore cybersecurity risks posed by artificial intelligence and its implications for intellectual property.
• Colleges and Universities. The Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government plans to review the efforts of colleges and universities “to limit protests, speeches, distribution of literature, petitions, and other expressive activities.”
• Patent and Trademark Filers. The Committee plans to continue examining the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s “efforts to address patent and trademark abuse.” Given the bipartisan interest Congress displayed last year in biotech and pharmaceutical companies’ use of the patent system, these industries will likely continue to face congressional scrutiny regarding patenting practices.
• M&A Transactions. The Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust plans to examine “collusion, monopolization, and mergers and acquisitions that may violate the antitrust laws,” and will examine existing antitrust exemptions. Companies considering market consolidation may therefore face congressional inquiries in parallel to executive branch review procedures by the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice.
• Private Sector Interactions with Biden Department of Justice. The Subcommittee on Oversight plans to examine the Department of Justice, including “political bias within the FBI’s former senior leadership”; “politicization of criminal investigations and prosecutorial decisions”; and “unprecedented and aggressive law-enforcement tactics against political opponents of the Biden-Harris Administration.”
• Companies Involved in Immigration and Border Security Services. The Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement plans to examine “how the Biden-Harris Administration border crisis incentivized illegal immigration, drug trafficking, human smuggling and crime.” Companies with activities related to immigration may face scrutiny.

Committee on Energy and Commerce

• Private Sector Recipients of Federal Research Funding. The Committee plans to examine “how the federal agencies approve and monitor grants and subgrantees,” with a focus on the National Institutes of Health. Particularly where grantees have been accused of mismanagement or other oversight failures, recipients of federal research grants may receive inquiries from the Committee.
• Biotech and Pharmaceutical Companies. The Committee plans to review “supply chain resilience” in the drug and medical device industries, as well as opportunities to increase domestic manufacturing of these products. Companies in these industries with foreign production, especially in China, or product shortages may face congressional scrutiny.
• Private Sector Collectors of Consumer Data. The Committee plans to examine the information that businesses, blockchain technologies, and service providers collect about Americans and “how to improve consumer protections and security, without stifling beneficial innovations, such as artificial intelligence applications and other digital products and services.” The Committee plans to investigate “the collection and use of data by social media platforms, technology companies, and data brokers particularly by applications owned by or influenced by” the Chinese Communist Party (“CCP”). The Committee plans to focus on fraud and other criminal activities occurring through e-commerce businesses. The Committee also plans to “examine government initiatives to improve cybersecurity both in the public and private sectors.”
• Social Media and Technology Companies. Like the Judiciary Committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee plans to continue to “conduct oversight of social media and technology companies’ policies and procedures regulating publication, appeals processes regarding censorship and deplatforming, censorship, and handling of claimed misinformation.” In addition, the Committee plans to review “the role of social media in facilitating fentanyl distribution throughout the U.S., particularly in transactions involving minors.”
• Energy Sector Companies and China. The Committee plans to review the Administration’s energy policies and investigate “the impact these policies are having on supply chains, critical minerals, dependence on China and the [CCP], and domestic production of energy.” The Committee’s plan also mentions “facilities controlled by China and the CCP” as part of its oversight of the Department of Energy’s “grant and loan programs that fund production in foreign jurisdictions.”
• Electric Utility Companies. The Committee plans to review the nation’s electricity system. The Committee expects to examine the activities of federal agencies and state governments, relating to “electric industry restructuring, consumer protection, and the development of wholesale markets for electricity.” Utility companies should prepare for potential congressional scrutiny.
• Private Sector Recipients of Department of Energy Funding. Like the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee plans to continue reviewing Biden-era grant and loan programs and assess their effect on “the domestic supply, manufacture, and commercial deployment of clean and advanced energy products and other technologies.” Already, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations has held a hearing examining these programs, and private entities receiving federal funding under these programs will likely receive inquiries from the Committee.
• Climate Change and the Private Sector. The Committee plans to continue to investigate issues related to climate change, including “monitor[ing] international negotiations” and domestic regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. Companies should expect inquiries related to their own environmental, social, and governance initiatives.

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Clients concerned about potential congressional scrutiny can take concrete actions now to prepare for potential investigations. Thoughtful preparations can increase a company’s ability to respond proactively, immediately, and efficiently if an inquiry were to materialize. Covington’s industry-leading Congressional Investigations practice is widely recognized and ranked in “Band 1” by Chambers, the legal ranking publication. Our team is experienced in conducting congressional investigation risk assessments and trainings to identify and mitigate potential issues.

If you have any questions concerning the material discussed in this client alert, please contact the members of our Congressional Investigations practice.