Welcome to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL-12), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, along with 10 members of the subcommittee, sent a letter to DeepSeek regarding their data practices and close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). “DeepSeek admits to sending Americans’ personal information to servers in China, where it is undoubtedly accessed by officials connected to the Chinese Communist Party. We are concerned that this relationship with agents having close connections to our primary adversary jeopardizes our data and our national security,” said Chairmen Guthrie and Bilirakis. “To ensure Americans and their businesses are secure from foreign interference, we are launching this investigation into DeepSeek and the risks it poses to our nation.” KEY LETTER EXCERPT: “By its own admission, the company’s mobile application—available on app stores in the U.S.—is sending Americans’ personal information to servers in the People’s Republic of China. According to media reports, the company is also sharing users’ personal information with other CCP-linked entities, including ByteDance Ltd. Researchers, meanwhile, have identified serious weaknesses in DeepSeek’s purported security controls and model safeguards. To address these risks, a growing number of states, including New York, Texas, and Virginia have banned DeepSeek on government devices, with states attorneys-general calling for a broader ban.” Background: On January 20, 2025, DeepSeek launched its open-source AI chatbot. On February 18, 2025, DeepSeek was accused of sharing user data with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. On March 6, 2025, 21 state attorneys-general urged Congressional leadership to prohibit government devices from “downloading and using the Chinese Communist Party’s DeepSeek AI Software.” On April 16, 2025, the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party published a report on DeepSeek funneling American data to the CCP and manipulating results to align with CCP propaganda. The Committee members requested answers to the following questions: Provide a detailed description of the types and sources of data used to train your AI models, including any U.S. personal or proprietary information. Confirm whether information entered into your AI applications or chatbots by American consumers or businesses is used to train your AI models. If yes, identify where this information is stored and accessed from, and whether it is shared with any state entity of the People’s Republic of China or other Chinese companies. Describe the technical, administrative, and physical controls used to secure personal and proprietary information associated with your AI offerings, as well as your process for evaluating the security of third-party service providers. Provide a detailed description of any U.S. technology products or services used to develop, integrate, or bring to market your AI offerings. This includes the use of open and closed source AI models developed by U.S. companies and the unauthorized “distillation” of American models. Provide a detailed description of how your AI models are developed and trained, including any steps taken to influence system outputs for alignment with Chinese Communist Party ideology or political goals. Provide a detailed description of any direct or indirect subsidies you receive from the People’s Republic of China, or its political subdivisions, related to AI development. Confirm whether your company has received a request from the People’s Republic of China, or its political subdivisions, for data related to your company’s AI offerings. This includes personal and proprietary data used to train or finetune an AI model and data ingested by your AI services. CLICK HERE to read the full letter. CLICK HERE to read the story from Fox News. ###

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, announced a hearing titled Assuring Abundant, Reliable American Energy to Power Innovation . “Our nation is at an energy crossroads. It’s clear that securing our electric grid and powering AI will require abundant and reliable energy for decades to come,” said Chairmen Guthrie and Latta. “Over the past several months, our Committee has heard from energy producers, grid operators, and experts on AI that have discussed the need to produce more baseload power. This legislative hearing offers us the chance to discuss specific policy proposals to help achieve this goal and ensure American energy dominance.”   Subcommittee on Energy hearing titled Assuring Abundant, Reliable American Energy to Power Innovation   WHAT : Subcommittee on Energy hearing to discuss legislation that would help our nation create affordable and reliable energy in order to maintain our grid and power new technologies.  DATE : Wednesday, April 30, 2025        TIME :  10:15 AM ET  LOCATION : 2123 Rayburn House Office Building    This hearing will focus on the following bills: H.R. ____ , Reliable Power Act H.R. 1047 , GRID Power Act (Rep. Balderson) H.R. ____ , Power Plant Reliability Act of 2025 H.R. ____ , Electric Supply Chain Act H.R. ____ , Reliability Protection for States Act H.R. ____ , State Planning for Reliability and Affordability Act  H.R. ____ , Hydropower Relicensing Transparency Act H.R. ____ , National Coal Council Reestablishment Act H.R. ____ , Securing America’s Critical Minerals Supply Act  H.R. ____ , Researching Efficient Federal Improvements for Necessary Energy Refining Act (REFINER) Act H.R. ____ , Promoting Cross-Border Energy Infrastructure Act  H.R. 1949 , Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2025 (Rep. Pfluger) H.R. ____ , Improving Interagency Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act H.R. ____ , Expediting Generator Interconnection Procedures Act of 2025   This notice is at the direction of the Chairman. The hearing will be open to the public and press and will be livestreamed online at energycommerce.house.gov. If you have any questions concerning this hearing, please contact Calvin Huggins at Calvin.Huggins1@mail.house.gov . If you have any press-related questions, please contact Ben Mullany at Ben.Mullany@mail.house.gov .   ###

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Richard Hudson (NC-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, announced a hearing titled Global Networks at Risk: Securing the Future of Telecommunications Infrastructure . “Our adversaries continually seek to exploit vulnerabilities in our communications infrastructure to jeopardize our national security, disrupt critical services, and steal Americans’ data. As the United States faces new and evolving threats, we must act quickly to strengthen our networks and support greater resilience by outpacing those who seek to do us harm,” said Chairmen Guthrie and Hudson . “We look forward to this conversation with experts from across the industry on what steps Congress should take to ensure Americans continue to have access to secure and reliable networks.”    Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing titled Global Networks at Risk: Securing the Future of Telecommunications Infrastructure    WHAT : Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing on securing global networks.     DATE : Wednesday, April 30, 2025  TIME : 10:00 AM ET  LOCATION : 2322 Rayburn House Office Building   This notice is at the direction of the Chairman. The hearing will be open to the public and press and will be livestreamed online at energycommerce.house.gov . If you have any questions concerning this hearing, please contact Noah Jackson at Noah.Jackson@mail.house.gov . If you have any press-related questions, please contact Daniel Kelly at Daniel.Kelly@mail.house.gov .   ###

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL-12), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, and Congressman Gary Palmer (AL-06), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, sent a letter to 23andMe regarding the handling of Americans' sensitive data following the company's decision to file for bankruptcy. KEY EXCERPT: “According to 23andMe’s privacy statement, in a bankruptcy, customers’ ‘Personal Information may be accessed, sold or transferred as part of that transaction and this Privacy Statement will apply to [customer] Personal Information as transferred to the new entity.’ Additionally, a judge recently ruled 23andMe has the right to sell the sensitive medical and genetic information of its 15 million customers, which is considered to be the company’s most valuable asset. With the lack of a federal comprehensive data privacy and security law, we write to express our great concern about the safety of Americans’ most sensitive personal information.” Background: On March 23, 2025, 23andMe initiated Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, which could have ramifications for the highly sensitive information of millions of Americans. While Americans’ personal health information is protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), these protections only apply if the information is collected by a HIPAA covered entity. Generally, direct-to-consumer companies, like 23andMe, are not covered by HIPAA. Customers have reported issues accessing and deleting their data from their 23andMe accounts. The Chairmen have requested answers to the following questions: If 23andMe were to sell the personal information of its customers either as a standalone asset or as part of a broader sale of the company, what post-sale data privacy and security protections would be in place for its customers’ personal information? Please describe how the representations made in 23andMe’s privacy statement will continue to apply—and be enforced—if the personal information of 23andMe’s customers is sold to a third party. Please include in this response information about what, if anything, would hold a third-party buyer to 23andMe’s privacy statement or prevent it from subsequently using, transferring, or otherwise selling, such information in the future. Does 23andMe plan to change its privacy statement at any time prior to selling any customers’ personal information? If so, please explain the change 23andMe plans to implement and when those changes will go into effect. Does 23andMe intend to vet prospective buyers to which it may sell its customers’ personal information? If so, please detail the vetting process and whether it will include the prospective buyer’s history of implementing data security protections and compliance with sectoral, state, or any other data privacy and security laws. If not, please explain why. Please detail the categories of customer information 23andMe has, and of that what 23andMe is considering selling. Has 23andMe notified its customers of the company’s bankruptcy announcement? If so, please attach the customer notification. If not, please explain why. Has 23andMe provided its customers with a guide for how to delete, or request to delete any information currently in 23andMe’s possession? If so, please provide a copy of that guide and specify when it was provided to customers. If not, please explain why, and explain whether 23andMe will contact each of its customers and provide an opportunity to delete their personal information prior to a potential sale of the company or personal information maintained by the company. Please detail the number of requests 23andMe received from its customers to delete their personal information between when 23andMe filed for bankruptcy and the date of the response to this letter. Of those requests, please provide a breakdown of how many requests were made by customers through their 23andMe online accounts and how many were made via customer service calls because customers were unable to successfully delete their information through their online accounts. Of those requests, please detail the number of fulfilled requests. Will 23andMe offer for sale any information in which a customer has requested the deletion of such information? If so, does 23andMe’s privacy policy consider selling information a legitimate purpose for retaining information past a customer's request to delete their information? Will 23andMe deidentify its customers’ personal information prior to selling it or the company? If so, please detail which information will be deidentified. If not, please explain why the company is electing not to deidentify information. CLICK HERE to read the full letter. CLICK HERE to read the story from CNBC. ###

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Congressman Gary Palmer (AL-06), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, and Congressman Morgan Griffith (VA-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment, wrote letters to eight Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) grant recipients. “The Committee has had concerns about the GGRF program—including the program’s unusual structure and a potential lack of due diligence in selecting award recipients. A recent Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing examined these issues and the speed with which money was pushed out the door by the Biden Administration’s EPA, which raised additional questions about certain GGRF recipients.” said Chairmen Guthrie, Palmer, and Griffith. “ This investigation is key to evaluating whether these funds were awarded fairly and impartially to qualified applicants and determining how the federal funds are being used.” Background:  The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) authorized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create and implement a $27 billion GGRF program. Of this appropriation, $20 billion was awarded to just eight grant recipients; with $14 billion awarded to three grant recipients under the National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) program and $6 billion awarded to five grant recipients under the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA) program.    Letters: National Clean Investment Fund Program Recipients Coalition for Green Capital Climate United Fund Power Forward Communities   Clean Communities Investment Accelerator Program Recipients Justice Climate Fund Opportunity Finance Network Inclusiv Native CDFI Network Appalachian Community Capital Read the story here . ###

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Yesterday, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, along with Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, penned a letter to Secretary Jennifer Granholm questioning the Department of Energy’s involvement in the Biden-Harris Administration’s decision to prevent new offshore oil and gas production, leading to higher prices for consumers and harming U.S. energy security. KEY LETTER EXCERPT: “Closing off swaths of U.S. offshore areas to energy production, as the Biden-Harris Administration reportedly intends to do, will lead to higher energy prices for American families, the loss of American jobs, and greatly diminish our country’s energy security. As the Secretary of Energy, you have an obligation to weigh in on this matter and insist on a full review of the energy security and economic impacts before any decisions are finalized. “The United States stands at an energy crossroads, facing mounting global security threats and soaring demand for power. Instead of leading the world in energy production, we’ve allowed misguided “green” policies to hamstring our potential. It’s time to unleash American energy dominance again—the federal government must become an ally, not an obstacle, to our nation’s energy security. We look forward to your prompt response to this request, no later than January 10, 2025.” Read the story  here . BACKGROUND: This morning, the Biden Administration announced that more than 625 million square miles of coastline would be off-limits for energy production. Republican Members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce have continuously called on the Biden-Harris Administration to end its attack on American energy production before leaving office on January 20th. The letter requests an explanation of the DOE’s involvement in the decision and whether the White House or the Department of Interior consulted with the DOE about the plans to close off access to offshore resources. Any decision to shut down access to significant American energy resources impacts U.S. energy policy and should be reviewed by the DOE. The Biden Administration’s energy policies have continued to create major harm to America’s energy production and workforce. A unilateral ban on energy production in large swaths of the U.S. coastline will have lasting impacts on American energy production and security.