Year in Preview: Review of and Insights into Investigations by the 119th Congress

This is the fifth in our 2025 Year in Preview series examining important trends in white collar law and investigations in the coming year. We will be posting further installments in the series throughout the next several weeks. Our previous post, "SEC Expected to Shift Priorities and Adopt a More Business-Friendly Approach in 2025" can be found here. 

The 119th United States Congress began on January 3, 2025. With a narrow majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Republicans control every committee, ensuring that congressional investigations will support the Republican policy agendas. In this Congress, we expect that congressional committees will seek information and testimony from private sector entities, particularly U.S. companies leveraging technology, social media, and artificial intelligence, companies and firms that have publicly announced diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) or environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) policies or practices, green or alternative-energy companies, as well as continuing to investigate fraud related to and the source of the COVID-19 pandemic. We detail the features and tools of a congressional investigation and outline these several investigative priorities below. 

Congressional Investigations v. Agency Investigations

There are several features that separate congressional investigations from agency or Department of Justice investigations. Although Congress’s power to investigate is not explicitly stated in the Constitution, it is inherently found under their power to legislate. This makes the scope of Congress’s investigatory powers quite broad and limited only to the extent that the investigation is not furthering a valid legislative purpose. 

Congress’s power to investigate is generally pursued through its various committees and subcommittees. This makes committees, such as the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (part of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs), each of which has some of the broadest investigative authority in Congress, important to focus on. Committee majorities can direct investigations based on several largely unchecked factors, including their own political agenda, public opinion, alleged or perceived wrongdoings or unethical practices, public attention on company actions, and proposed legislation. 

The tools that Congress can use to pursue their investigations are equally broad and do not necessarily follow the same rules and structure as an agency or Department of Justice investigation. These tools include:

• Public Letters
• Requests for Information
• Interviews and Depositions
• Hearings (Public and “Closed-Door”)
• Subpoenas

Below are the main initiatives we anticipate from the 119th Congress: 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) Practices

Congressional investigations into corporate and higher education practices related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are expected to continue this year, especially in light of President Trump's recent executive actions limiting access to federal funds to advance DEI and attempting to restrict the advancement of DEI in higher education and the private sector.

We expect increased scrutiny into private sector industries regarding their use of DEI. In December, Representative James Comer (R-Ky.), who will remain the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, published an op-ed in the Washington Times confirming that the Committee’s work will align with the Trump administration’s priorities. In the article, Rep. Comer states that “[m]any of President[] Donald Trump’s key priorities align with the Oversight Committee’s jurisdiction,” and “[w]e will actively work with [President] Trump and his administration to hold the federal bureaucracy accountable and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely.” According to a press release from Representative Comer (R-Ky.) on behalf of the Committee, this also includes DEI. The press release applauded President Trump’s executive orders related to DEI¹ and affirmed the position that the “federal government must stop wasting money on woke DEI programs.”  

We also anticipate continued scrutiny from congressional committees regarding the use of federal funding through government contracts and grants to advance DEI programs and practices, including in higher education. The 118th Congress² was highly focused on DEI spending and practices in government, launching inquiries and investigations into the Department of Defense, the military, and the Pentagon. The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform under the 118th Congress, held a hearing on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) requirement to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and its alleged failure to do so by pushing and failing to investigate allegedly “unlawful [DEI] programs.” The Senate was also involved in similar investigations. In October, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tx) released a report detailing and criticizing federal spending by the National Science Foundation for academic research into categories such as “status,” social justice, gender, race, and environmental justice. 

In 2024, Congressional efforts to investigate various DEI-related issues also extended to institutions of higher education receiving federal funding, partially in response to the October 2023 attacks in Israel and the rise in reports of antisemitic incidents on some campuses. We expect Congress to carry these efforts forward into 2025, and to expand investigative efforts into other DEI-related issues on campus, including gender and sports. We covered investigations into DEI on university campuses earlier in our Year in Preview series; for more information about what we can expect from Congress related to higher education, read here.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) Practices

Throughout 2024, Congress indicated that addressing environmental, social, and corporate governance (“ESG”) considerations, in connection with investment decisions, is a priority. On one hand, in 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary (“Committee”) focused on ESG practices connected to climate, involving a so-called “climate cartel.” After starting an antitrust investigation in December 2022, where it sent numerous letters and issued multiple subpoenas, the Committee released interim staff reports in June and December 2024, respectively. 

The Committee has shown no signs of letting up. It sent letters, in July 2024, to over 130 U.S. entities due to their involvement in Climate Action 100+. Then, as recently as December 2024, the Committee sent letters to more than 60 entities based on their participation in the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, suggesting it plans to continue its investigation throughout 2025. 

Congress also sought to overturn the U.S. Department of Labor’s “Final Rule on Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights” (“Rule”), which took effect on January 30, 2023. This Rule allows fiduciaries, under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, to consider ESG factors when determining retirement investments and exercising stockholder rights, including proxy voting. 

Former President Biden’s veto, in March 2023, stopped Congress’ efforts to overturn the Rule. But with President Trump previously indicating—when campaigning—he would “immediately ban ESG investments through executive order and work with Congress to enact a permanent ban,” we expect the Rule to be overturned in 2025, further increasing the threat of congressional investigations in the ESG space as the year progresses. 

Green/Alternative Energy Infrastructure Projects

The 118th Congress made green and alternative energy a blockbuster topic for investigation in 2024. We can expect continued focus on this area during the 119th Congress as well. The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Biden in 2022, invested over $360 billion for clean energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental justice projects. Since then, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the House Committee on Natural Resources, the Senate Commission on Energy and Natural Resources, and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works have been paying close attention to the issues.

On February 11, 2025, the Chair for the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources (part of the House Committee on Natural Resources) went on record saying that “[f]or 4 years, President Biden ignored the livelihoods and energy needs of hardworking Americans by waging war on domestic energy” and committed to work with President Trump to start “unleashing offshore oil and gas production.”  This position on green and alternative energy is consistent with fellow Representatives Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV) and Congressman Lance Gooden’s (R-TX) February 7, 2025 letter to Attorney General Pamela Bondi calling for her to investigate why the DOJ under the Biden administration dismissed a qui tam False Claims Act lawsuit against Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC, which they call an example of “other failed ‘green energy’ initiatives” in the letter and a “glaring example of reckless green energy crusades” in a corresponding press release.

But this is not just a “Republican issue,” and more committees have shown interest in this issue in years past. For example, last year, we saw the conclusion of an almost three-year long investigation and a report by the Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Senate Budget Committee into “Big Oil’s decades-long deception campaign.”  The investigation focused on ExxonMobil Corporation, Chevron Corporation, Shell USA Inc., BP America Inc., the American Petroleum Institute, and the Chamber of Commerce’s alleged crusade to deceive the public and their investors about the effects that oil and other fossil fuel products had climate change and to undermine efforts by green and alternative energy companies to reduce carbon emissions. Under the present Congress, we can expect inquiries into the action of the oil majors to respond to previous shareholder campaigns regarding investments in alternative energies.

Technology

Technology was a significant area of focus for the 118th Congress, and the 119th Congress is likely to take a similar approach. Indeed, Congressional Republicans will probably keep targeting internet and social media companies for supposedly discriminating against conservative media outlets, as well as with respect to data privacy and related national security concerns pertaining to China. As outlined below, other areas to watch include artificial intelligence (“AI”), online exploitation of children, and digital assets. 

Targeting Chinese Tech Companies Raising National Security Concerns

The Select Committee (“Select Committee”) on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (“CCP”) has been renewed for the 119th Congress, after being put on hold during the 118th Congress. The Select Committee’s primary focus in 2024 was banning TikTok, a popular social media app headquartered in Singapore and the United States, but often believed to be subject to the influence of the Chinese Communist Party through its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance. It also issued reports critiquing the manner in which U.S. entities might have mistakenly supported Chinese Communist Party military and technological goals—such as financial institutions’ financing surveillance technology in support of the CCP and universities’ and research institutions’ providing technological and military research assistance to the CCP. 

In 2025, the Select Committee is likely to follow a similar approach and will continue targeting other entities or industries that pose national security risks due to their connections with the Chinese government or economic sectors. 

A Possible New Approach to AI  

Congress will likely keep investing substantial resources in researching the risks and benefits of different forms of AI and how this emerging technology could impact other priority investigation areas. While Congress’ approach to AI policy is still left to be determined, a December 2024 press release and report by the Bipartisan Task Force on Artificial Intelligence is instructive. This report identifies a few critical areas where Congress plans to concentrate its efforts, including intellectual property, consumer protection, and healthcare. 

Senator Ted Cruz, who has publicly voiced his critiques of the Biden administration’s alleged protectionist approach to AI, now heads the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. This committee is expected to dedicate significant bandwidth to issues connected to AI, so Senator Cruz could have substantial influence when it comes to congressional investigations in this area.   

Preventing the Online Exploitation of Children by Big Tech

Both houses of Congress, and their respective committees, will probably maintain their efforts to investigate online dangers to children. The Senate Committee on the Judiciary—during the previous Congress—held a broadly publicized hearing regarding preventing the online exploitation of children by Big Tech. It is probable that, in addition to continuing to investigate, Congress will pass legislation directed at these issues, especially considering efforts to introduce such legislation have already started. For example, Senator Cruz has recently proposed a resolution that would terminate a Biden-era order that increased the availability of subsidized wi-fi for schoolchildren. 

Limiting Scrutiny on Digital Assets³

Compared to previous years, the blockchain and cryptocurrency space is poised to receive less scrutiny from Congress, whose recent actions tend to demonstrate a more welcoming stance. Indeed, on February 11, 2025, the House Committee on Financial Services held ahearing entitled “A Golden Age of Digital Assets: Charting a Path Forward.”  The hearing addressed proposed legislation, which tends to support Congress’ promotion of, and investment into, research and development of blockchain and cryptocurrency.

Nevertheless, appointments of new leaders to critical congressional committees demonstrate that both houses of Congress expect to keep tabs on stablecoin and cryptocurrency. Rep. French Hill, the new chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, was the former chair of the subcommittee that handled these digital assets. He is, thus, expected to bring these issues to the forefront before the full committee.

Similarly, Senator Tim Scott, who recently became chair of the Senate Banking Committee, was the founder of the first-of-its-kind subcommittee on digital assets. This subcommittee is set to be chaired by Senator Cynthis Lummis and will be focused on addressing cryptocurrency issues. Notably, as soon as she took her post, Senator Lummis encouraged her peers “to urgently pass bipartisan legislation establishing a comprehensive legal framework for digital assets that strengthens the U.S. dollar with a strategic bitcoin reserve.” 

It remains to be seen how these committees will approach congressional investigations related to digital assets going forward. 

COVID-19

Over the last five years, Congress has provided $4.45 trillion in emergency funds to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning, several agencies responsible for disbursing payments and other forms of relief lacked robust fraud risk controls to safeguard against improper payments. This, coupled with pressure to spend federal funds quickly, increased the risk of fraud and overpayments. 

In September 2024, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability released a staff report noting that the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates 11 to 15 percent of total benefits paid during the pandemic were fraudulent. While the staff report could signal the end of an investigation, it is possible that that Congressional Republicans will continue to probe unemployment insurance programs. One of the key recommendations in the report was to extend the statute of limitations for fraud associated with the pandemic unemployment insurance programs.

Separate from fraudulent payment investigations, both chambers have scrutinized the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which previously received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, subpoenaed 14 agencies in January 2025 for more information on the research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. 

As 2025 unfolds, Congressional Republicans are expected to further probe the origins of the pandemic and continue investigating fraud pertaining to COVID-19 relief programs.

Closing Thoughts

Companies, investors, scientific and educational institutions and non-profit organizations should expect the current 119th Congress to aggressively use its investigatory powers to help forward the Republican agenda and the priorities of the Trump Administration in the areas we discuss above. We will continue to follow the activities of various congressional activities as the year progresses.

²Called the Committee on Oversight and Accountability. 

³The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has also signaled a more accommodating approach to the crypto asset industry. For more information, click here.