Rodney Scott, Todd Lyons, and Joseph Edlow sat before a House appropriations subcommittee on April 16 and made the case for more money, more staff, and more support, even as the agency they work for has gone more than 60 days without a budget.
The hearing covered Department of Homeland Security funding for the next fiscal year. That’s a strange thing to discuss when Congress can’t agree on how to fund DHS for the current year. Rep. Rosa DeLauro didn’t let that irony pass. She called it “the absurdity of holding a hearing on funding for these agencies” in her opening statement, and she wasn’t the only one frustrated.
The department ran out of money on Feb. 14. By the time Scott, Lyons, and Edlow testified, DHS had been without formal appropriations for longer than any shutdown in U.S. history. The previous record, a 43-day shutdown in November, hit all government agencies. This one targets DHS specifically, and it’s stretched past the two-month mark.
Democrats in the Senate triggered the impasse after immigration officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in January. Senate Democrats refused to pass DHS appropriations for the current fiscal year, demanding changes to how the department’s law enforcement operates. They haven’t gotten Republicans to agree. The White House and congressional Republicans found other ways to keep immigration enforcement running, and Democrats haven’t been able to force a deal.
The $75 billion. That’s what congressional Republicans sent to ICE last summer through a partisan tax and spending package, and ICE has leaned on that money during both of the two most recent shutdowns to keep paying its officers. Customs and Border Protection got funds from the same package.
President Donald Trump also signed a memo to pay Transportation Security Administration employees during the current shutdown, then extended it to cover all DHS workers, though the administration didn’t specify where the money was coming from. Agency leaders at Thursday’s hearing raised concern that some workers had still missed paychecks and that not everyone was back in the office, a signal that the funding workarounds haven’t been seamless.
Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, testified alongside Rodney Scott, who leads U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Joseph Edlow, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. All three voiced support for longer-term funding stability. Republicans are discussing whether they could fund DHS for three years, or through the rest of Trump’s term, using the same reconciliation process that delivered the $75 billion package last year.
The LAIST coverage of the hearing notes that the acting head of ICE, the admiral of the U.S. Coast Guard, and other officials also testified about the impact of the funding lapse on their workforce and programs. Several agency leaders asked for more staff even as their agencies operate in a kind of financial limbo.
Reconciliation is a budget tool that lets the majority party pass spending legislation without needing 60 votes in the Senate. It’s not typically used for annual appropriations, but congressional Republicans have shown willingness to stretch its application. The Senate Budget Committee tracks the procedural rules governing when and how reconciliation can be used, and Democrats have argued the process shouldn’t become a permanent workaround for regular agency funding.
The Department of Homeland Security oversees a wide range of functions beyond immigration enforcement, including disaster relief through FEMA, cybersecurity operations, and the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard’s admiral testified Thursday as well, raising concerns about what the funding lapse means for an agency responsible for search and rescue and maritime security.
For Californians, a DHS shutdown isn’t abstract. The state has the country’s busiest ports of entry, a long coastline that the Coast Guard patrols, and major airports where TSA screens millions of passengers each year. FEMA, also part of DHS, has been deeply involved in California’s disaster recovery after recent wildfire seasons, and any disruption to that agency’s operations hits the state directly.
The stalemate has now outlasted every previous funding gap in the department’s history, and lawmakers on both sides described Thursday’s hearing as a frustrating exercise, debating the future while the present remains unresolved. Rep. DeLauro’s word, “absurdity,” kept coming up in the room, and none of the agency officials who testified offered a clear answer for when it ends.