TDFP Exclusive: Lofgren Says Commerce Hasn't Produced "a Single" Document in Nearly Two Years, Gives Lutnick and Energy's Wright a Nov. 6 Deadline

The top Democrat on the House Science Committee says the Commerce Department has not turned over "a single responsive document, communication, or record" in response to her oversight requests, and she has given Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Energy Secretary Chris Wright until 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, to produce the records she wants.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the committee's ranking member, sent the two letters on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. The committee's Democratic staff posted them with a press release on Monday. Each letter is six pages and is copied to the committee's Republican chairman, Rep. Brian Babin of Texas. The letters were reviewed by The Digital Free Press.

What the Lofgren Oversight Letters Say

Both letters open the same way: "Agencies are required to comply with congressional oversight. It is an obligation, not a choice."

To Lutnick, Lofgren writes that "DOC has failed to produce a single responsive document, communication, or record. In fact, the Department has not even formally replied to any of my oversight requests in nearly two years, let alone provided responsive answers to my questions. This is unacceptable."

Her letter to Wright is different on one point. Lofgren writes that the Energy Department "has provided formal responses to most of those letters" but "has been non-responsive to most of the actual requests contained therein," and that it "has mostly responded with letters that deflect questions rather than answering them."

Both letters say they "reaffirm" her earlier requests from the current Congress and "formally notify" each department that those requests "remain outstanding."

The letters also make sharp charges against both secretaries. Lofgren writes that Lutnick's "mismanagement, lack of ethics, and contempt for legal limits on your authority have badly damaged the Department of Commerce," and she calls his leadership "a failure." She tells Wright, "you have damaged DOE's competence and credibility" and "you have much to answer for." Those are Lofgren's accusations; the letters cite news reports and her own earlier letters for them.

What She Wants From Commerce

The Commerce letter lists 10 requests on four subjects, going back to March 2025:

Reorganization plans. Lofgren asks for the department's "Agency RIF and Reorganization Plans" sent to the White House budget office and the Office of Personnel Management under OMB Director Russ Vought's February 2025 memo. She first asked NOAA and NIST for them on March 11, 2025.

NOAA office leases. She asks for communications from Jan. 20 to March 13, 2025, among Commerce, NOAA, the General Services Administration and federal contractors about closing or ending leases on NOAA facilities, and all related documents since Jan. 20, 2025. The letter says a March 13, 2025 request listed "at least 34 NOAA office leases" proposed for termination, and that "most of the proposed lease terminations failed to materialize."

SpaceX contacts. After the firing of probationary employees at Commerce's Office of Space Commerce, she asks for a list of all meetings and communications between Jan. 20 and March 19, 2025 involving Commerce, NOAA or the Office of Space Commerce and "any representative acting on behalf of SpaceX," with dates, participants and subjects. On that request, the letter says, "The Department did not reply."

USA Rare Earth. She asks for the non-binding letter of intent behind the department's $1.6 billion equity stake in USA Rare Earth, Inc., publicized Jan. 26, 2026, and for documents and communications, including text and Signal messages, about negotiating it, about a November 2025 meeting between Lutnick and USA Rare Earth CEO Barbara Humpton, and about a 2025 interagency meeting with the company. Lofgren writes that the deal raises "conflicts-of-interest" concerns because Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial firm Lutnick led before joining the administration, acted "as an agent for USAR."

What She Wants From Energy

The Energy letter lists 11 requests on three subjects:

Canceled clean-energy awards. Lofgren asks for the "one pagers" or "one-page summary memos" written for each award reviewed under what the department calls its "Portfolio Review Process," the assessments for each award terminated in May 2025 and October 2025, and a full list of department officials who took part in the reviews in 2025 and 2026. The letter says the May 30, 2025 terminations covered 24 projects managed by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, totaling $3.7 billion. It says Lofgren repeated those requests in a Sept. 28, 2026 letter and that the department "failed to comply by the requested deadline."

The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations. She asks for the legal analysis behind folding that office into a department-wide reorganization finalized in November 2025, and for the number and job descriptions of employees still counted as its staff. Lofgren says Congress required the office by law in 2021.

A fired appointee on the payroll. She asks for internal records, emails and messages about the paid administrative leave of Cathy Tripodi, a former political appointee who Lofgren says was "relieved of her duties in October 2025" but stayed on the payroll "through the end of June 2026." She also asks for the department's written administrative leave policies. According to the letter, the department answered an earlier request with "a curt, four sentence letter" that said: "As a matter of policy, DOE does not comment on personnel matters."

What Happens Next

Both letters set the same deadline: 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026.

Neither letter threatens a subpoena by name. Both close with the same warning: "DOE should understand that a lack of cooperation will not frustrate the Committee's oversight permanently. It will merely strengthen our commitment to employing all the tools at our disposal to hold the Department accountable." The Commerce letter uses the same words about Commerce.

Lofgren writes as the committee's ranking member, the top member of the minority party. Republicans control the committee, which Babin chairs.

TDFP has asked the Commerce Department, the Energy Department and Rep. Lofgren's office for comment and will update this story.

Sources: Rep. Zoe Lofgren, letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (Oct. 16, 2026): https://democrats-science.house.gov/download/2026-10-16-sst-rm-lofgren_-letter-to-secretary-lutnick_-119th-oversight ; Rep. Zoe Lofgren, letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright (Oct. 16, 2026): https://democrats-science.house.gov/download/2026-10-16-sst-rm-lofgren_-letter-to-secretary-wright_-119th-oversight ; House Science Committee Democrats, "Lofgren Requests Answers to Outstanding Oversight Requests, Demands Compliance from Secretaries Lutnick and Wright" (Oct. 19, 2026): https://democrats-science.house.gov/news/press-releases/lofgren-requests-answers-to-outstanding-oversight-requests-demands-compliance-from-secretaries-lutnick-and-wright