DHS funding likely to lapse as Congress leaves town without deal
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is on track to shut down if Congress doesn’t reach an agreement to keep it funded, which doesn’t look likely. Senators voted Thursday on a funding bill to keep DHS funded through September, but the measure fell short.
One lone Democrat, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, voted to move forward with the bill, but that left the final tally at 52-47, well short of the 60-vote threshold needed for it to advance. Without a deal, DHS funding will lapse at 12 a.m. Saturday.
Lawmakers left town Thursday for an 11-day recess, although the Republican leaders of the House and Senate could call them back if a deal is reached.
Immigration enforcement funding
Even if the DHS does shut down, the two agencies at the center of the deadlock will still have money.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have separate funding through President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
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DHS has requested a $115.6 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2026.
The standoff is rooted in a broader dispute over immigration policy and enforcement. Senate Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer, have refused to support the bill without reforms to ICE and other federal enforcement agencies after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal agents in Minneapolis last month.
“If Republicans want to keep DHS funded, they need to get serious,” Schumer said during a press conference Thursday. “They need to sit down, they need to negotiate in good faith, produce legislation that actually reins in ICE and stops the violence.”
Key sticking points include whether to impose new limits on federal immigration officers and whether agents should be allowed to wear masks during enforcement operations.
What happens if DHS shuts down?
If DHS shuts down certain federal employees — including those working at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Coast Guard — won’t be paid. However, most of them are considered to be critical workers, so they’ll still be expected to continue showing up for work.
During the record 43-day government shutdown a couple of months ago, more than 90% of DHS employees were required to work, The New York Times reports.
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Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told The Times about 95% of the TSA’s roughly 60,000 employees are required to work without pay during a shutdown.
On Wednesday, Gregg Phillips, the associate administrator of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, told lawmakers FEMA has enough money to carry out current and anticipated emergency responses. However, he added that if a disaster happened during a DHS shutdown, the agency “would be seriously strained,” which could slow recovery efforts.
About 85% of FEMA employees must work without pay during a shutdown.
Additionally, almost all Secret Service employees would have to keep working, while most workers at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would be furloughed.
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