Homeland Security officials voice concerns about looming shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — A disruption in reimbursements to states for disaster relief costs. Delays in cybersecurity response and training. And missed paychecks for the agents who screen passengers and bags at the nation’s airports, which could lead to unscheduled absences and longer wait times for travelers.

Those were just some of the potential ramifications of a looming funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security, according to officials who testified before a House panel on Wednesday.

Congress has approved full-year funding for the vast majority of the federal government, but it only passed a short-term funding patch for the Department of Homeland Security that extends through Friday. In response to the killing of two American citizens in Minneapolis and other incidents, Democrats have insisted that any funding bill for the department come with changes to immigration enforcement operations.

Finding agreement on the issue of immigration enforcement will be exceedingly difficult. But even though lawmakers in both parties were skeptical, a White House official said that the administration was having constructive talks with both Republicans and Democrats. The official, granted anonymity to speak about ongoing deliberations, stressed that President Donald Trump wanted the government to remain open and for Homeland Security services to be funded.

Meanwhile, Republicans are emphasizing that a Homeland Security shutdown would not curtail the work of the agencies Democrats are most concerned about. Trump’s tax and spending cut bill passed last year gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement about $75 billion to expand detention capacity and beef up enforcement operations.

“Removal operations will continue. Wall construction will continue,” said Rep. Mark Amodei, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security.

Rather, agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Secret Service, Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency would take the biggest hit, he said. Officials from those agencies appeared before the House subcommittee to explain the potential impact of a Homeland Security shutdown.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, the ranking Democrat on the panel, said the tragic loss of two American citizens in Minneapolis — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — should concern every lawmaker. He said that strong borders and a respect for human life are not competing values.

“When enforcement actions lead to outcomes like that, we have an obligation to ask the hard question and to make sure our laws and policies are working as intended,” Cuellar said.

He said on Homeland Security funding that “we were almost there. We were there, Democrats and Republicans and everybody, but the second shooting brought different dynamics. I think we can get there to address that.”

Essential work continues

About 90% of the department’s employees would continue working in a shutdown, but they would do so without pay. Vice Admiral Thomas Allan of the U.S. Coast Guard said law enforcement and emergency response missions continue during a shutdown, but that the possibility of missed paychecks creates significant financial hardships.

“Shutdowns cripple morale and directly harm our ability to recruit and retain the talented Americans we need to meet growing demands,” Allan said.

Ha Nguyen McNeill of the Transportation Security Administration shared a similar concern. She estimated about 95% of the agency’s 61,000 workers would continue to work, but potentially go without a paycheck depending upon the length of a shutdown. She noted that they just went through a lengthy shutdown last fall.

“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,” she said. “…Some are just recovering from the financial impact of the 43-day shutdown. Many are still reeling from it. We cannot put them through another such experience.”

Homeland Security also includes the agency charged with working to protect the public and private sector from a broad range of cyber threats. Madhu Gottumukkala, acting director of that agency, said a shutdown would “degrade our capacity to provide timely and actionable guidance to help partners defend their networks.”

“I want to be clear, when the government shuts down, cyber threats do not,” he said.

Long-term impact

Gregg Phillips, an associated administrator at FEMA, said its disaster relief fund has sufficient balances to continue emergency response activities during a shutdown, but would become seriously strained in the event of a catastrophic disaster. He said that while the agency continues to respond to threats like flooding and winter storms, long-term planning and coordination with state and local partners is “irrevocably impacted.”

For example, he said a lapse would disrupt training for first responders at the National Disaster & Emergency Management University in Maryland.

“The import of these trainings cannot be measured,” Phillips said. “And their absence will be felt in our local communities.”

At the Secret Service, “the casual observer will see no difference,” said Matthew Quinn, the agency’s deputy director. But he said reform efforts taking place at the Secret Service are affected.

“Delayed contracts, diminished hiring and halted new programs will be the result,” Quinn said.