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

The public may not notice the effects of a likely shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security, 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 agencies pleaded with House appropriators to fund the department by midnight Friday to avert a shutdown and spare their 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 back pay for workers.

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

Democrats are refusing to support the fiscal 2026 spending bill for the Homeland Security Department, 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 the Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees homeland security 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 Protection, have a separate funding stream as a result of the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will allow them to continue that work during 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 of another shutdown 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. Still, 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, said Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn.

A shutdown also could affect the Secret Service’s ability to acquire counterdrone 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 the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, roughly 35% to 40% of cybersecurity workers and “threat hunters” would 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, cyberthreats 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 lifesaving work in a shutdown, but its longer-term missions, such as 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 would disrupt FEMA’s “critical preparedness activities” to remain ready to respond to natural disasters and terrorist incidents, he said.

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

Ms. McNeill said roughly 95% of the TSA 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 some “localized spikes” were reported as the impasse dragged on and rates of unscheduled absences increased, she said.

Employees who continued 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 have to stop some training programs for air and boat crews and defer maintenance on its vessels.

Democrats said they support all 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 Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, 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. They are scheduled to 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 agencies that the Trump administration has neglected in pursuit of its deportation agenda. As an example, she cited FEMA’s denial of Illinois’ request for a major disaster declaration after severe storms.

“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 were holding hostage essential 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. He said Democrats were using their agencies and workers as “pawns.”

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