Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has “proactively agreed to appear voluntarily” before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of the panel’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Chair James Comer announced Tuesday.

“I commend his demonstrated commitment to transparency and appreciate his willingness to engage with the Committee,” Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement. “I look forward to his testimony.”

A date for Lutnick’s deposition is not yet known.

Lutnick has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein’s crimes, and he continues to have the White House’s support. But he has faced calls for his resignation from Democrats after the Epstein files released by the Justice Department revealed the full extent of his relationship with the disgraced financier. Lutnick had previously suggested that he cut ties prior to Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a prostitute. The Commerce secretary later conceded the two men had lunch together following those charges.

Shortly before Comer’s announcement Tuesday afternoon that Lutnick would cooperate with the panel, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) shared her intention to force a vote to subpoena Lutnick during a House Oversight hearing scheduled for Wednesday on an unrelated topic. While committee Republicans have also expressed a desire to hear from Lutnick, his agreement to testify suggests that most GOP members would prefer to avoid having to take a politically uncomfortable vote to compel testimony from a high ranking Trump administration official — plus hand Democrats victory.

On Monday, the Oversight Committee released footage of a deposition with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, where Mace accused Lutnick of operating as a “go-between between [Hillary Clinton] and Jeffrey Epstein raising money for [her].” Clinton has said her work with Lutnick was around the response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York, in which Lutnick’s company lost many employees.

Clinton said she never recalled meeting Epstein and has not been accused of wrongdoing.

When the U.S. and Israel launched a wave of strikes on Iran over the weekend, some Democrats warned about the impact on energy costs. Now that those predictions have come to pass with an uptick in global prices for natural gas and crude oil, Democrats are pouncing — and Republicans are pushing back.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) started to set the tone for the GOP’s messaging Monday afternoon, saying he expected prices to return to prewar levels soon.

“I think that there will be, hopefully, a cessation of this in the not-too-distant future, at which time my assumption is that that’ll stabilize a bit,” Thune said. “Anything that happens in the Middle East seems to set off an increase in oil prices.”

Other Senate Republicans are also giving the administration some breathing room for the time being. Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) said that while fluctuating energy prices is worth watching, “it seems to be second-tier right now.” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) agreed it was “a little soon to be saying that this is going to be a major issue.”

Like a number of energy industry analysts, some Republicans are pointing to policies boosting domestic energy production as a potential cushion that could soften the impact of the price volatility. Indeed, other recent instability in the Middle East has not translated in major price spikes.

“We’ve worked hard to be more self-sustaining so that we don’t have this,” said Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). “We have the means to make our own supply. So I’m really not too worried about that.”

But Capito also conceded that voters could get frustrated if the war continues and their wallets start to feel the pinch.

“When they feel prices at the pump,” Capito said, “they don’t like it.”

It could become a difficult balancing act for the GOP in an election year that’s becoming all about affordability — especially as President Donald Trump warns of a conflict that could take weeks to resolve.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), during a floor speech Monday, said Americans “don’t want a war that raises the price of gas at the pump.”

“Trump is raising prices at home while razing countries abroad,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) posted on X. “In addition to untold casualties, Trump’s illegal war with Iran will lead to skyrocketing oil prices, and we know the Big Oil vultures are already circulating.”

The topic came up Monday during Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s briefing of congressional leadership on Capitol Hill, where he acknowledged that the administration knew energy prices would be affected as a result of the strikes. Rubio also said Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would manage a response to be announced Tuesday, but did not specify what the response would be.

The impact of the overseas turmoil on energy prices is likely to come up again Tuesday afternoon, when Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other administration officials return to Blue Light News to brief members of the House and Senate.

Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the administration needs to do a lot more explaining.

“Is there a strategy? Is there a goal? Because right now, all of that seems missing, and in the meantime, we’re going to have American consumers paying very real costs with respect to energy,” Heinrich said.

Amelia Davidson, Nico Portuondo and Pavan Acharya contributed to this report.

The White House is trying to stave off a revolt on Capitol Hill against its military actions in Iran, as both chambers are set to vote on resolutions this week that would put guardrails on President Donald Trump’s unilateral use of military force.

Their first order of business: Bring administration heavies to Capitol Hill to discuss the rationale for strikes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was on Blue Light News Monday to brief congressional leaders. He’ll be back Tuesday with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and they plan to meet first with members of the Senate, then the House.

At this point, lawmakers on both sides are decrying a lack of details from the administration — including evidence that Iran posed an imminent threat to the U.S. that would necessitate military action. But so far, it’s looking like Republican leaders will be able to avoid mass GOP defections on the war power votes being forced in both chambers.

When the Senate votes Wednesday on Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) bipartisan resolution that would prevent further attacks without congressional buy-in, Democrats will need to pick up at least five Republicans to secure adoption — given Democratic Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-Pa.) expected opposition. Watch GOP Sens. Todd Young (Ind.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), who helped advance a Venezuela war powers effort last month and were noncommittal Monday when asked how they’d vote on Iran.

Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Monday he believes he has the votes to block Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna’s (D-Calif.) Iran war powers resolution in the House, which will hit the floor Thursday.

“The idea that we would take the ability of our commander in chief … to finish this job, is a frightening prospect to me,” he said.

— Pressure on DHS funding: Republicans have another job this week — build pressure on Democrats to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, citing a need to fully fund the agency amid heightened security risks following the strikes in Iran.

The House Rules Committee convenes at 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon to tee up another vote Thursday on a DHS funding bill similar to what the chamber passed last month, with Republicans daring Democrats to vote against defending the homeland.

But there are no signs of Democratic surrender as the DHS shutdown enters Day 18 amid a stalemate over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda. Democratic leaders in the House are whipping against the vote, telling members there is “no new language to end the chaos caused by ICE in communities across the country.”

Expect more debate when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifies in front of members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. These will be her first congressional hearings since the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents, which sparked the DHS impasse in Congress.

What else we’re watching: 

— Texas primary day: Leaders in both parties will be closely watching a slew of House and Senate races in Texas Tuesday night that could determine control of Congress next year. The biggest contests across the Lone Star State will be the Senate primaries. James Talarico and Rep. Jasmine Crockett are vying for the Democratic nomination, while Sen. John Cornyn, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt are competing for the Republican nomination.

— Farm bill markup: House Agriculture will Tuesday evening begin marking up a farm bill years in the making — and some of the amendments under consideration will be more viable than others.

In the DOA category: Proposals from Democrats, including Reps. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) and Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), that would reverse GOP cuts to food aid spending that were enacted in last summer’s megabill. In the more likely category: Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.) plans to offer an amendment that would postpone new restrictions on hemp products by two years, which would be a win for the hemp industry resistant to further regulation.

Katherine Tully-McManus, Jordain Carney, Andrew Howard, Rachel Shin and Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.