Foxx Opening Remarks on H.R. 8646, H.R. 7726, H.R. 7892, and H.R. 8872

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 four measures: H.R. 8646, H.R. 7726, H.R. 7892, and H.R. 8872.

H.R. 8646, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act provides a total discretionary allocation of $26.27 billion, which is 1.4% below the Fiscal Year 2026 enacted level.

This legislation is not only fiscally responsible, but it also puts the dedicated producers across our nation, as well as American consumers, first.

From securing the nation's supply of food and drugs to supporting hardworking Americans in rural communities, protecting access to nutrition programs for low-income Americans to ensuring federal programs meet their core functions, this legislation has a broad and impactful reach.

I look forward to hearing more about its positive impacts, and its contours, during our discussion here today.

H.R. 7726, the Stop Child Care Scams Act , is a collection of eight separate pieces of legislation explicitly designed to strike down fraud, strengthen oversight, and shield taxpayer dollars in Federal child care assistance programs.

All eight follow a simple principle: money meant for children and working families should not be lost to fraud or waste.

Those who perpetrate fraud operate with the utmost callousness - they do not care who they hurt, and they do not care about the pain they inflict on those who they target.

Every dollar that is snatched away by fraud is a dollar that cannot be used by a working parent to provide care for a child or put food on the table.

These bills help seal the gaps that have allowed fraud in child care assistance programs to flow unconfronted.

They set clear standards, and they ensure that accountability is always treated as the rule and not the exception.

H.R. 7892, the No Aid For Ghost Students Act of 2026 , weeds out and deters fraudsters who attempt to corrupt the FAFSA Application process through the use of stolen or entirely fictitious identities.

FAFSA needs serious, comprehensive reform - that much is abundantly clear.

This legislation is part of that reform, and it provides a necessary injection of accountability that will protect the tax dollars of Americans and ensure that aid to students in need is not siphoned away through cracks in the program.

H.R 8872, the Preventing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in TANF Act , would require Federal TANF funds to supplement, not supplant, state and local spending.

This prohibits states from using Federal TANF funds to replace state or local funds that otherwise would be available for similar services.

TANF's lack of internal guardrails has made the program easy to abuse - that must be changed.

With few guardrails on state spending, it's unclear whether resources are actually going to low-income families and having the desired impact or getting abused by fraudsters.

This legislation works to solve this issue and protect the access to assistance for low-income families that truly need it.

I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses here today and the forthcoming conversations that we will have about the measures before us.

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

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