House Republicans are raising alarms over the growing costs and risks of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, pushing Capitol Hill to act as critical agencies strain under a funding lapse. Lawmakers are calling a hearing to press agency leaders on operational impacts and the personal toll on frontline staff. The standoff centers on whether to approve full-year funding for DHS, including immigration enforcement, or to take a piecemeal approach pushed by Democrats.
The House Homeland Security Committee has scheduled a hearing next Wednesday to examine how the funding gap is affecting core missions at TSA, FEMA, the U.S. Coast Guard and CISA. Senior officials from those agencies are expected to testify about operational strain, staffing shortages and morale problems caused by the continuing lapse. Republicans say the goal is to expose the real-world consequences of letting DHS remain partially unfunded.
Republican members are frustrated that Democrats have not backed a full-year DHS funding measure, even as the nation heads into one of the busiest travel seasons and faces heightened threats abroad. Lawmakers argue partisan fights are undermining border security, aviation safety and disaster response at a dangerous moment. The dispute intensified after Democrats rejected the White House’s counteroffer on immigration enforcement reforms.
“Amid one of the busiest travel seasons and as we face heightened physical and cyber threats from the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and other adversaries, it is deeply troubling that DHS’s core mission continues to be undermined by Democrats’ political games,” Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., said in a statement. “Each day this shutdown continues, it jeopardizes the safety of Americans and creates worsening financial hardship for the frontline DHS personnel who work hard every day to protect the homeland.”
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The shutdown’s effects on air travel are already visible, with roughly 170 million Americans expected to travel through the nation’s airports this spring. More than 50,000 TSA employees have gone without pay during the extended shutdown, and that strain is translating into missed shifts and resignations. Committee Republicans warn that sustained staffing shortfalls compromise checkpoint coverage and passenger safety.
To date, more than 360 TSA employees have resigned over the 34-day partial shutdown, and the agency reported roughly 10% of agents did not report to work on Sunday. Those departures and absences have produced long security lines at some major hubs and forced airports to brace for delays. Even when some terminals process passengers quickly, the unpredictability is itself a security and planning problem for airports and travelers alike.
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FEMA personnel are facing similar pressures, with leadership warning that an underfunded agency would struggle to respond effectively to a major disaster. In a previous shutdown, 85% of FEMA staff reported to work without pay, and officials fear the same endurance will be required again if the lapse continues. Republicans say FEMA should be fully funded to ensure readiness rather than forced into crisis mode by political brinkmanship.
Democrats are proposing a bill to fund DHS sub-agencies that do not handle immigration enforcement, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has signaled plans to file a discharge petition to force a vote. That procedural move would require a handful of GOP signatures to bring the measure to the floor, and Republicans remain wary of piecemeal fixes. GOP senators have blocked similar proposals in the upper chamber, insisting that any final package must include funding for immigration enforcement as part of a full-year plan.
Rep. Garbarino criticized the Democrats’ proposal, urging colleagues to stop blocking comprehensive funding for DHS. “I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle recognize that there is far too much at stake to continue blocking full funding for the department, and that any piecemeal funding efforts simply fail to meet the moment,” Garbarino said. House Republicans are positioned to use the upcoming hearing to press agency leaders and to keep public attention on the practical costs of the shutdown.
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