Foxx Opening Remarks on H.R. 261, H.R. 2189, and H.R. 3617

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 three separate measures: H.R. 261, H.R. 2189, and H.R. 3617.

H.R. 261, the Undersea Cable Protection Act, would fortify our nation's national security posture by protecting submarine cable infrastructure and striking down duplicative permitting laws.

Current protections for the United States' cable infrastructure need a serious tune up so that its reliability and safeguards remain secure from all manner of threats.

We've seen it all too well across Europe - with multiple incidents of both undersea cable and undersea pipeline damage going back to 2022. As we all know, our nation's adversaries are always looking for weak points to exploit, and this legislation targets an important area that we would do well to strengthen for the sake of our own national security.

H.R. 2189, the Law-Enforcement Innovate to De-Escalate Act, would update the Gun Control Act (GCA) of 1968 to exclude "less-than-lethal projectile devices" from its definition of the term "firearm."

Currently, the GCA places new models of less-than-lethal equipment, such as TASER devices, in the same classification as firearms.

This classification is erroneous and makes it more difficult for law enforcement to acquire these less-than-lethal devices. We can, and should, correct this so that law enforcement is best equipped for both self-defense and de-escalation.

Finally, H.R. 3617, the Securing America's Critical Minerals Supply Act, would amend the Department of Energy Organization Act by enshrining "critical energy resource" as any energy resource that is essential to the energy sector and energy systems of the United States and the supply chain of which is vulnerable to disruption.

We've heard many times over in this committee how the demand for critical minerals continues to climb across the nation, and as such, we should be working to open opportunities right here in America to harness those resources and ensure their place in bringing on new energy to meet the demands of the 21^st Century.

H.R. 3617 would also direct the Secretary of Energy to conduct an ongoing assessment of the nation's supply of critical energy resources, the vulnerability of the critical energy resource supply chains, and the energy security considerations of critical energy resources in the development of energy technologies.

I look forward to the discussions we'll have here today on these three measures. With that, I now yield to the Ranking Member, Mr. McGovern, for any comments he wishes to make.

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