Foxx Opening Remarks on the Senate Amendment to H.R. 5371

As prepared for delivery:

Good evening, 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 finally end the Democrat-induced, Chuck Schumer-sponsored shutdown.

It has been over 40 Days since we last sat in this room, when Republicans advanced a responsible, nonpartisan, clean CR and all but one Democrat voted to shut the government down.

The amount of wild rhetoric we have heard from Democrats ever since they shut the government down is astounding.

They have bent over backwards and contorted themselves to such a degree that they've deluded themselves into believing that they're somehow doing right by the American people.

But don't take my word for it, listen to what Democrats in the Senate - who voted to reopen the government - are saying about the absurd position their own party has taken:

• Senator John Fetterman: "It should've never come to this. This was a failure."
• Senator Catherine Cortez Masto: "I have consistently voted against shutting down the government because I know the pain it is causing working families."
• Minority Whip Dick Durbin: "I cannot accept a strategy which wages political battle at the expense of my neighbor's paycheck or the food for his children."

The Democrat government shutdown that has lasted over 40 days did not have to happen - it did not have to be this way.

Our work in service to the American people did not have to be interrupted.

Servicemembers, Capitol Police, air traffic controllers, and countless others did not have to miss their paychecks.

SNAP benefits did not have to lapse unnecessarily.

Airports around the nation did not have to scale back their operating statuses and leave millions of travelers in a lurch.

The list goes on and on.

Now, we will be voting on another iteration of the CR that does not contain any of the hostage demands that Democrats made.

So, all that bluster and showboating for over 40 days on their part led to a big, fat nothingburger and they're walking away empty-handed.

As the Ranking Member once said during a debate on the floor this year, "Wow, what a victory."

I anticipate we'll hear a lot of lecturing and blame cast at Republicans for everything under the sun today.

We'll hear a lot of bottled-up angst - with a lot of exclamation points and raised voices to boot - directed at the President too. Not surprising.

What we won't hear from our colleagues across the aisle today is their taking ownership of the chaos they've unleashed upon the nation.

We won't hear them apologize to the American people for gaslighting them incessantly.

And we won't hear an admission that the only reason they shut down the government is to cover up for a policy failure that they themselves concocted and stamped an end date on.

But it's a new day, and maybe they'll have a change of heart, see the light, and come clean. We'll just have to wait and see.

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