Democrats grab subpoena power, and Trump's energy deals are first in line

President Donald Trump's sprawling energy dealmaking is about to get the microscope treatment. When the new Congress convenes in January with Democrats in the majority, they'll hold the subpoena power that comes with committee control — the ability to compel testimony and documents. Until now, per CNBC, the opposition could only fire off strongly worded letters. Rep. Frank Pallone, the New Jersey Democrat likely to chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee, says he intends to run an aggressive oversight agenda aimed at rooting out corruption.

Top of the pile: Venezuela. Washington seized control of the country's oil exports in January after a military raid ousted President Nicolas Maduro, and the Pentagon took a stake in North American Blue Energy Partners, a little-known oil company meant to develop Venezuelan reserves. The arrangement supposedly hands the U.S. control over 65 billion barrels. Democrats have spent months demanding an accounting of how Venezuela's oil revenues are spent — and gotten nothing back. House Democrats warned the industry in January that deals with the U.S. could bring legal risk from creditors holding nearly $200 billion in Venezuelan debt, and senators followed with a September letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Energy Secretary Chris Wright questioning the legal basis for the NABEP deal.

Critical minerals are next. Senators flagged the repeated involvement of Cantor Fitzgerald in government equity-stake deals — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ran the firm before joining the administration, divested, and handed control to his sons. A July letter demanded the feds preserve records tied to deals involving 14 companies. Lutnick shrugged it off in a September CNBC interview: if Democrats send letters, he said, he'll answer them, adding that when you do nothing wrong you don't worry about it. USA Rare Earth, one of the named companies, told investors in a March SEC filing that its government-stockholder deal has few precedents and could draw litigation and political scrutiny.

The war is the other front. Crude prices sold off sharply Wednesday as the market bet the election defeat pushes Trump toward a deal with Iran, and Vice President JD Vance pinned the Republican loss directly on the conflict. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, expected to take the Speaker's gavel, vowed Democrats will end what he called a reckless and costly war of choice that sent gas prices soaring. Democrats intend to pass a war powers resolution, though Trump will almost certainly veto it — and it's unclear whether they'll also try to choke off war funding.

Drivers might feel relief first. GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan says gasoline could dip below $4 a gallon within a week and diesel under $6 by Thanksgiving. But Bob McNally of Rapidan Energy, a former energy advisor to George W. Bush, warns the odds still favor military escalation in the Middle East, arguing Iran is dug in and Trump won't abandon his goal of blocking an Iranian nuclear weapon.

Then there's the wreckage of clean energy. Trump's team has cancelled nearly $8 billion of energy projects in states that backed Kamala Harris in 2024, and Wright has told Congress politics played no part — an assertion several House Democrats call false testimony, which the Energy Department denies. The Interior Department has also tried buying out offshore wind leases, paying TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion to scrap a project and swear off similar U.S. investments, with the company pivoting to natural gas. Reps. Jared Huffman and Jamie Raskin called that deal unlawful and opened an investigation in April.