Foxx Opening Remarks on Government Funding, H.J. Res. 142, Contempt Resolutions, & H.R. 4090

As prepared for delivery:

Good afternoon, the Committee will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time.

Today, the Rules Committee is convening to consider five separate measures: the Senate Amendments to H.R. 7148, H.J. Res. 142, H.R. 4090, and House Reports 119-468 and 119-469, two reports accompanying resolutions recommending that the House find former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Contempt of Congress.

Before we get into the substance of today's meeting, I'll touch on a few points.

First, I thank everyone who has spent their time traveling back to D.C. - the weather has not been very kind as of late, and it has impacted many.

Our work this week is very important - and we all know that to be very true.

What's more, we all know that our country is facing many challenges right now.

I had the good fortune to have some time this weekend to read articles focused on our 250th anniversary and obstacles that were overcome to establish our great country.

On a day-to-day basis, we often focus on the negative and don't put our successes in perspective - but the truth is that we need a balanced perspective.

Regarding the unfortunate incidents that took place in Minneapolis recently, let me just say that violence of any kind is deeply abhorrent to me, and any death that occurs leaves a deep impression upon our hearts.

One can agree with that sentiment regardless of where they stand on the political spectrum.

Right now, people have a lot of very strong feelings, and it's my hope that the palpable tension within the nation's public squares will be calmed and that we can be models for that.

These are deeply concerning incidents that are worthy of an independent investigation, in addition to the ongoing investigation by the Administration.

Next, a word about the appropriations measure before us.

The House passed its last tranche of appropriations bills and sent them to the legislative body that sits opposite of us, and to the surprise of absolutely no one, the Senate decided, in turn, to engage in a game of legislative hot potato.

The House did not, for even a moment during the appropriations process, flirt with the possibility of a government shutdown - but that's what the Senate decided to do.

Now, we're back here caught in a malaise of déjà vu because "The world's greatest deliberative body" decided to torpedo the process, without fail, as it tends to do.

To describe this as "disappointing" would be an understatement.

This process should have been over and done with by now - there's much more business that we need to attend to and a delay like this keeps us from completing more work.

Moving on to the remaining items on today's agenda.

H.J. Res. 142, a Congressional Review Act resolution, provides for congressional disapproval of the D.C. Income and Franchise Tax Conformity and Revision Temporary Amendment Act of 2025.

Last year, the Council of the District of Columbia passed its own legislative measure to decouple its own tax code from specific provisions within the Working Families Tax Cut.

That measure would do more harm than good.

The Council's approach would rob D.C. residents of new tax cuts, thereby increasing taxes on families, seniors, and small businesses within the District.

By passing this disapproval resolution, we can strike down Democrat-imposed tax hikes in the District that are punishing its citizens while other Americans are granted the tax cuts. This is hypocritical in light of other demands that the D.C. Council makes.

House Report 119-468 and House Report 119-469 are two bipartisan reports accompanying contempt of Congress resolutions for Bill and Hillary Clinton from the Oversight Committee.

Bill and Hillary Clinton refused to comply with duly issued bipartisan subpoenas that compelled their respective depositions to the Oversight Committee in relation to the Committee's ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

They have impeded Congress' investigations and failed to comply with duly issued subpoenas - subpoenas which were voted for unanimously in one of the Oversight subcommittees.

As Chairman Comer said previously, we're proceeding with these contempt resolutions to demonstrate to the American people that justice is applied equally to everyone, regardless of position, pedigree, or presumed prestige.

Finally, we turn to H.R. 4090, the Critical Mineral Dominance Act, legislation that would codify provisions of certain Executive Orders relating to domestic mining and hardrock mineral resources.

H.R. 4090 would require the Department of the Interior, in consultation with the Department of Agriculture, to identify priority mining projects on federal lands that can be immediately approved and take all necessary and appropriate steps to expedite these projects.

Further, it targets legal and regulatory bottlenecks that impede domestic mining by directing the Department of the Interior to oversee a series of actions related to reviewing such roadblocks on the state and local levels as well as recommending changes to current law to streamline domestic mining.

We have another busy day here at the Rules Committee, and as always, I look forward to the spirited discussions that we'll have.

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

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