The Justice Department on Friday began providing Congress with thousands of pages of documents from its investigation into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, responding to a subpoena from the House’s principal investigative committee.

The batch of material missed a Tuesday deadline set by the panel for the Justice Department to produce all of its files related to Mr. Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence, and did not include all of the investigative material.

Still, Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, the Republican who chairs the Oversight Committee, praised the department, writing on social media that it was “moving at a pace far faster than anything ever produced by the Biden” administration’s Justice Department.

It was not known what was in the files provided to the panel, which have not been publicly released. A spokeswoman said the committee intended to do so after a thorough review to ensure any victims’ identification and child sexual abuse material were redacted, and after consulting with the Justice Department to ensure that any documents released would not damage ongoing criminal cases and investigations.

Representative Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the panel, said on social media that his team was “beginning a careful review process” of the material that was provided and would “share additional information as we learn more.”

The move was the most significant release of material from the case since the Justice Department and F.B.I. announced in early July that they were concluding the Epstein investigation, prompting intense backlash from President Trump’s supporters on the right.

It came after Democrats and a few Republicans on the House Oversight Committee banded together last month to approve a subpoena for the files, forcing Mr. Comer to issue it.

The action was one of the last things lawmakers did before leaving Washington for their August recess, as the G.O.P. faced outrage within its base and a growing divide about how to address the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein investigation. The dilemma had effectively frozen the House floor as Democrats sought to force votes at nearly every turn on whether to release the material and Republicans toiled to avoid having to register a position.

House Republican leaders had hoped that developments during their five-week summer recess away from Washington might curb the fervor from their constituents over the files. But courts blocked the release of grand jury testimony, and Ms. Maxwell’s relocation to a minimum-security prison camp prompted further outcry and questions from lawmakers.

The new release of records may do little to help, given the timing and the fact that the release was only partial. More records are expected to be provided in the coming months. But the delay will most likely prompt continued demands for the files.

At the same time, many lawmakers have continued to call for the full release of Epstein-related material not just to the committee but also to the public.

And House Republican leaders still appear likely to face a bipartisan effort early next month to force a floor vote on a public release of the files. Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican and frequent Trump critic, and Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, plan to use a procedural maneuver to bring up their measure, which has bipartisan support, requiring the Justice Department to release its records to the public.

The two announced a news conference outside the Capitol with survivors of Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell when lawmakers return to Washington in September.