Foxx Opening Remarks on H.R. 4593, H.R. 5184, and H.R. 6938

As prepared for delivery:

Good evening, welcome back, and Happy New Year everyone. The Committee will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. I acknowledge that my remarks will be a little longer than usual this evening.

I want to recognize Eric Shepard, a long serving professional staff member of the majority staff on the Committee, whose last day is this Friday.

Eric started on the Committee in the summer of 2016 as a Staff Assistant and then worked his way to become Deputy Clerk and then a Professional Staff Member. He's made a positive impact every step of the way.

Eric, it has been a pleasure to work alongside you, and I wish you well as you turn the page and enter a new and exciting chapter in your career. We're all rooting for you, and we will all miss you here at the Rules Committee.

Now, there's one more item to address before I get to the substance of our meeting. I can imagine some will want to harp ad nauseum for most today's meeting about the decisive action by U.S. forces in Venezuela.

Any despot, especially one indicted by the Biden Administration, any known enemy of the United States, or anyone who wishes to profit off the lives of U.S. citizens should know that American laws are not to be trifled with.

American sovereignty matters. American lives matter. For those bad actors who ignore these facts, you do so at your own detriment. Guising oneself under the flag of a foreign nation, or as a head of state, does not absolve a person from consequences when American lives are on the line.

Inevitably, people will scrutinize this action, and they already have online and within the media landscape. They'll say there's no precedent for it and that this action was far from routine.

Here's the bottom line: a government, internationally recognized as illegitimate, carrying active indictments by the U.S. government, that enmeshed itself with forces intent on profiting off the lives of Americans, now knows the full force of America's response.

Again, there will be ample scrutiny to go around, but I do believe it's important to place Executive Branch actions from past administrations - Democrat and Republican alike - alongside the events of the weekend.

Some of my colleagues on the other side just can't figure out a way to see anything President Trump does in a positive light.

And that's disappointing - it's disappointing that we cannot unite as a country to confront the evil that exists in this world because of partisanship.

Now, onto our business here today. Today, the Rules Committee is convening to consider three separate measures: H.R. 6938, H.R. 4593, and H.R. 5184.

After the House and Senate pass H.R. 6938, the Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act, 2026, we will have enacted into law six out of twelve appropriations bills. This legislation updates funding for 2026 with the purposes of reinforcing American energy independence, strengthening law enforcement, supporting responsible land management, and expanding access to critical minerals.

This bipartisan, bicameral package of bills meets the priorities of the American people head on while strengthening our nation's capabilities, resilience, and innovation right here at home.

And this package reflects serious progress in completing FY26 funding in a responsible and forward-looking manner.

I look forward to the testimony of Chairman Cole - as always, he'll lay out the facts that the American people deserve to know.

H.R. 4593 would codify President Trump's Executive Order to slash the bureaucratic and inflation-inducing zealotry of the previous administration that drove up costs for American families and consumers.

When Democrats are in power, the only thing they know how to do is regulate the hell out of everything - they don't care about who it may affect and the ballooning costs of doing so.

They churn out multi-thousand-word alphabet soup regulations and slap them on every single consumer product known to man.

It's just the truth. Americans categorically reject this nanny state mentality that Democrats embrace so warmly as if it were an old friend.

Nobody wins when a higher premium is placed upon regulating than exercising common sense and respecting consumer choice. Absolutely nobody wins.

Republicans are placing choice back in the hands of American families and consumers where it rightfully belongs.

H.R. 5184, Representative Houchin's bill, would end a duplicative, bottlenecking regulation that has imposed unrealistic energy conservation standards on manufactured homes.

Thanks to Democrats - what a shock - these unworkable conservation standards tack on at least $12,000 or more in additional costs per home.

More than 20 million Americans live in manufactured housing because it works for them - they choose this option because it's feasible and within their budgets.

The last thing homebuyers need is the federal government knocking them upside their heads with more wrongheaded regulations that force them to fork out more of their own hard-earned money.

The entire one size fits all regulatory approach is categorically insane - it never works, and it never produces any tangible outcomes that stand to benefit anyone.

Representative Houchin's bill is a piece of good faith legislation.

It rights a wrong that has been slapping around homebuyers since the mid-2000s when Democrats created this regulatory boondoggle and had it signed into law.

These two pieces of legislation are, at their cores, about restoring consumer choice, reducing government regulation, and making things more affordable - they're worthy of bipartisan support through and through.

I don't see how anyone could oppose such simple things. It is indeed a new year, and with every new year comes some resolutions.

Perhaps a New Year's resolution of our Democrat colleagues could be to engage in more bipartisanship and support policies that truly benefit the American people instead of regulating them into the ground.

That's just a thought. However, I won't hold my breath. The last thing I will touch on before yielding to the Ranking Member is how Republicans have delivered multiple wins for the American people this past year thanks to the work of our majority on this Committee.

Despite the spouting of statistics without providing any context and some blatant mischaracterizations that continue to be made by the minority - and I bet you that we'll hear a fair share today - Republicans have delivered time and again while maintaining the slimmest of congressional majorities.

The Democrat assertion that the 119 ^th Congress is the most "closed Congress in history" is utter hogwash and is entirely devoid of clarity.

As I have pointed out multiple times over, when Democrats hoot and holler about the number of closed rules, amendments being made in order, as well as other extraneous matters, they never present the full picture.

They have a strong proclivity to draw lopsided caricatures and spin mistruths to try and discredit everything under the sun that Republicans do.

Here are the facts.

While it is true the Rules Committee reported 95 closed rules in 2025 - only 33 percent of those rules were closed at the discretion of the Rules Committee.

When accounting for rules in the rules package which were adopted before the Committee organized, and in the case of CRAs and bills without amendments, more than half of the closed measures were closed by definition-meaning there were no amendments that could even be made in order.

Our Democrat colleagues also claim that no amendment deadline discourages the process and submission of amendments, but this argument is disingenuous and clearly doesn't hold water when examined properly.

Members know full well the Rules Committee will accept amendment submissions to any and all bills open for consideration.

Further, it has been a practice by both majorities to make in order amendments to bills even if there was no call for amendments.

In fact, my friends across the aisle utilized this practice over a dozen times in the 117th Congress, and when applicable, we have employed it as well.

The Rules Majority believes in serious lawmaking, not partisan messaging exercises.

We do not need to come up with hundreds of toxic messaging amendments to score political points or manufacture floor fights - our focus is on advancing thoughtful, substantive legislation through a fair and transparent process.

I hope that clears up the smog of rhetoric that our colleagues across the aisle continue to gin up.

With that, I now yield to the Ranking Member, Mr. McGovern, for any comments that he wishes to make.