Top image: Rep. Zoe Lofgren at the California Democratic Party convention in 2019. Photo: Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Rep. Zoe Lofgren of San José, the top Democrat on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, on Wednesday sent letters to more than 30 companies, individuals and federal agencies telling them to preserve records that could be relevant to the committee’s oversight, according to a statement from committee Democrats.
The White House dismissed the effort. “If Democrats choose to pursue sham investigations and radical left policies, they are choosing to work against the American people,” spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement reported by The New York Times and summarized by Quartz. President Donald Trump said on social media after the Nov. 3 elections that investigative requests Democrats had already made were “extortion at the highest level, and they should be held accountable,” according to The Associated Press.
Lofgren is expected to chair the committee when Democrats take the House majority in January. The letters are an early signal of how she plans to use the gavel.
Who got a letter
The list of recipients posted by committee Democrats includes NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Commerce Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. A version of the list on the committee’s letters page also names the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.
Private recipients include USA Rare Earth Inc. and Barbara Humpton; the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald; the company Lynker; and Scott Rayder. The list also includes climate researchers John Christy, Judith Curry, Steve Koonin, Ross McKitrick and Roy Spencer, the five authors of a 2025 Energy Department climate working group report. Lofgren previously wrote to Curry asking for information about the now-dissolved group. More than a dozen other individuals are named without their affiliations.
The statement does not say which investigation each letter relates to. According to the Times, as summarized by Quartz, the Science Committee’s concerns include an attempt to dismantle a leading climate and weather research institution, a White House deal with a rare earths company, and a campaign to discredit climate science ahead of a regulatory rollback. Lofgren has condemned what she called a threat to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
What the letters say
The letters to individuals and companies say: “This letter serves to formally notify you of your obligation to identify, retain, and preserve all information and materials in your possession or control, including personal property if applicable, that could potentially be relevant to the Committee’s oversight.” They add: “Failure to act as instructed may be interpreted as the deliberate obstruction of Congress’s power of inquiry. The Committee reserves the right to respond accordingly.”
The letters to agency heads cite the Federal Records Act, which requires agencies to safeguard records. The obligation “extends to applicable government documents and communications on personal property and in encrypted electronic messaging applications,” the letters say, adding that some records may be covered by the Presidential Records Act.
A preservation letter does not compel anyone to hand over documents. It is a warning that the committee may ask for them later.
Lofgren’s case
“This administration has engaged in an assault on the science enterprise in this country,” Lofgren told the Times, citing firings, coerced resignations, impounded money and “possible corruption,” according to Quartz. Lawmakers said some of the targets had ignored earlier information requests because Democrats lacked the power to compel answers, the Times reported.
Lofgren described her approach to Science magazine last week. “There’s a process where you negotiate and try and get voluntary compliance, and if you fail at that, then you compel,” she said, drawing on her time on the Jan. 6 committee. “Hopefully, knowing that we can compel attendance, people will cooperate. … But we’re going to get the information that we need one way or the other.”
She also told Science that she expects the committee’s “long history of bipartisanship” to continue on legislation, such as bills on artificial intelligence, quantum computing and fusion energy, even as oversight hearings become more contentious. Of the current chair, Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, she said: “There are things that are more difficult for him to do than for me.” The Chronicle previously reported on her agenda for the majority.
The other side
The Trump administration and its allies argue that Democratic investigations are politically motivated. Beyond Bis’s statement, Attorney General Todd Blanche said Nov. 8 that criminal investigations of Democrats are possible, the AP reported.
On other issues, the committee has worked across party lines. The Senate this week passed the Weather Act, a forecasting bill negotiated with House Science leaders, as the Chronicle reported. Lofgren called it “a long time coming.”
What’s next
Democrats on a second House committee sent their own preservation letters, bringing the total to more than 60 recipients, according to the Times. Democrats take control of the committee when the new Congress convenes in January. Lofgren told Science that the committee already has the power to subpoena witnesses.
Sources
- House Science Committee Democrats, Nov. 12 statement
- House Science Committee Democrats, list of letters
- Quartz, summarizing The New York Times and AP
- Science, Nov. 6 interview with Lofgren
- House Science Democrats, letter to Judith Curry
- House Science Democrats, statement on NCAR
- South Bay Chronicle, on the Weather Act
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