DHS shutdown to affect unpaid workers more than public; most operations deemed essential

The public may not notice the impacts of a likely Department of Homeland Security shutdown, but it would harm the essential employees who must work without pay to secure airports, respond to natural disasters, protect U.S. coasts and thwart cybersecurity attacks, administration officials told lawmakers Wednesday.

The heads of key Homeland Security Department agencies pleaded with House appropriators to fund the department by midnight Friday to avert a shutdown and spare its workers from having to find second jobs to make ends meet, as several did during the record 43-day shutdown last year.

“Many are still reeling from it,” said Ha Nguyen McNeill, acting head of the Transportation Security Administration, describing “a mental and emotional toll” and lingering financial impacts despite workers receiving back pay.

“We cannot put them through another such experience,” she said. “It would be unconscionable.”

Democrats are refusing to support the fiscal 2026 DHS spending bill, or even a temporary stopgap measure, without changes to how the Trump administration carries out immigration enforcement.

Republicans are willing to negotiate changes, but have rejected some of the Democrats’ demands as efforts to undercut law enforcement. An imminent resolution is unlikely, making a shutdown all but inevitable.

The Republicans who organized Wednesday’s hearing in the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Homeland Security Department said Democrats will not accomplish their objective with a shutdown.

The agencies running President Trump’s deportation force, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol, have a separate funding stream from Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act that will allow them to continue that work under a lapse in annual appropriations.

“Immigration and removal operations will continue. Wall construction will continue,” said Rep. Mark Amodei, Nevada Republican and chairman of the subcommittee. “The good work the department does outside of immigration enforcement will come to a screeching halt, and that’s what today’s hearing is about.”

The panel heard testimony from top officials at TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Secret Service about the impact another shutdown would have on their agencies.

Secret Service agents will continue their work to protect Mr. Trump and other top U.S. officials, as well as visiting foreign dignitaries. But a shutdown will hamper efforts underway to overhaul the agency after the operational failures that contributed to the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt on Mr. Trump, Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn said.

A shutdown could also affect the Secret Service’s ability to acquire counter-drone technology and other protective equipment needed for massive security events, such as the FIFA World Cup and America’s 250th anniversary celebrations this summer, he said.

“To the casual observer, there will be no visible difference,” Mr. Quinn said. “However, gaps in funding have a profound impact on our agency today and into the future.”

The Secret Service’s work investigating financial crimes would be temporarily reduced.

“National programs such as the National Computer Forensics Institute and our support for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children either comes to a halt or, at minimum, is impacted greatly by a shutdown,” Mr. Quinn said.

At CISA, roughly 35% to 40% of cybersecurity workers and “threat hunters” would still be required to report to work without pay, but decreased staffing could delay security assessments and incident responses, acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala said.

“When the government shuts down, cyber threats do not and our adversaries work 24/7,” he said. “Even a brief lapse can have lasting consequences on small businesses, federal networks and American taxpayers.”

FEMA will continue disaster response and life-saving work in a shutdown, but its longer-term missions, helping local communities rebuild, are affected. That “leads to lasting effects in public confidence and resilience,” said Gregg Phillips, associate administrator for the agency’s Office of Response and Recovery.

Delaying yearlong funding also disrupts “critical preparedness activities” FEMA undertakes to remain ready to respond to future natural disasters and terrorism incidents, he said.

“In emergency management, time is always the most important resource,” Mr. Phillips said.

Ms. McNeill said roughly 95% of TSA’s workforce is deemed essential during a shutdown — 61,000 employees who have to work without pay to protect the traveling public at more than 430 commercial airports.

TSA was able to keep average security line wait times within the agency’s standards during the 43-day shutdown, but there were some “localized spikes” as the impasse dragged on and rates of unscheduled absences increased, she said.

Employees who continued to show up to work did so at great expense.

“We heard reports of officers sleeping in their cars at airports to save money on gas, selling their blood and plasma and taking on second jobs to make ends meet,” Ms. McNeill said. “Many were subject to late fees for missed bill payments, eviction notices, loss of child care and more.”

Vice Adm. Thomas G. Allan Jr., acting vice commandant of the Coast Guard, said a shutdown would halt pay for the 56,000 active duty, reserve and civilian personnel who protect America’s ports and waterways.

“Shutdowns cripple morale and directly harm our ability to recruit and retain the talented Americans we need to meet growing demands,” he said, noting that financial worries from missed paychecks serve as a distraction that “puts member mission, crew and unit at risk.”

The Coast Guard would also have to stop some training programs for air and boat crews and defer maintenance on its vessels.

Democrats said they support all of those agencies and would be willing to fund them separately from ICE and CBP, the parts of the Homeland Security Department they are focused on overhauling. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democratic appropriator, introduced a bill Wednesday to that effect.

“If there is a shutdown, it will be the responsibility of Republican leadership,” she said. “The public blamed you in the last go-round. They’re going to blame you now because you won’t take responsibility for what ICE is doing.”

Ms. DeLauro and other Democrats said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should have been called to testify at the hearing, along with representatives from ICE and CBP. Heads of those agencies testified before the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday and will appear before the Senate equivalent panel on Thursday.

“If my Republican colleagues were serious about keeping the American people safe, we’d be discussing how to protect citizens from their own government,” said Rep. Lauren Underwood, Illinois Democrat. “Instead, we’re having this sham hearing with Republicans trying to shift blame.”

She said Republicans are pretending to care about DHS agencies the Trump administration has neglected in pursuit of its deportation agenda, citing FEMA denying Illinois’ request for a major disaster declaration after severe storms as an example.

“Apparently, the Trump administration has enough money for immigration agents to rappel down from helicopters to raid an apartment building on Chicago’s South Side, resulting in zero criminal charges, but not to address flooding when heavy rain overwhelms the sewer system a few miles away,” Ms. Underwood said.

Rep. Juan Ciscomani, Arizona Republican, said the hearing was not a sham and that Democrats are holding hostage essential Homeland Security Department agencies and workers.

“Shutting down the government and agencies and departments over policy disagreements is completely inappropriate and reckless,” he said.

Rep. Michael Guest, Mississippi Republican, apologized to the witnesses for Democrats using their agencies and workers as “pawns” to get what they demand.

“This is clearly only political theater,” he said.