WASHINGTON, D.C. –– This week, the House Committee on Homeland Security convened a hearing to examine the impacts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown caused by Senate Democrats’ refusal to advance the bipartisan Fiscal Year 2026 DHS funding bill. The hearing focused on how repeated shutdowns have impacted DHS’s core mission, strained DHS personnel, and undermined emergency preparedness amid a heightened threat environment and in advance of major international events on U.S. soil.

Witness testimony was provided by Admiral Thomas Allan, Vice Commandant of the United States Coast Guard (USCG); Ha Nguyen McNeill, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA); Nicholas Andersen, Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA); and Victoria Barton, Associate Administrator for the Office of External Affairs of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In his opening statement, Chairman Andrew R. Garbarino (R-NY)emphasized that the funding lapse is undermining the mission readiness of DHS components and undermining workforce retention:

“To withhold funding from the Department is not only flawed but immensely dangerous. The Department of Homeland Security was created after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, in direct response to the operational siloes among security agencies and general failures in coordination and information sharing. As a lifelong New Yorker and the representative of a community forever marked by the September 11th terrorist attacks, the mission of the Department is deeply personal for me. Twenty-five years later, its purpose is essential as ever.”

“We must focus on funding the DHS workforce. These are public servants who care about the Department’s mission. These men and women keep our nation safe every day. We need the best and brightest to defend the United States from sophisticated adversaries and dynamic threats, and this dysfunction and uncertainty only makes it harder for DHS to recruit and retain talented public servants. Washington cannot continue to disrespect and devalue their work without consequence.”

Chairman Garbarino then asked how the shutdown is affecting TSA’s ability to prepare for the influx of travelers ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, to which TSA Acting Administrator McNeill testified:

“It takes a TSO four to six months to be fully certified in all functions to operate a checkpoint. And so, at this point, if we bring on any new TSOs, you know, those folks will not be deployed in time by FIFA. And so, we are watching our attrition rates very closely to make sure that if we see any spikes, we’ll have to pivot and assess how we are going to staff the FIFA locations adequately.”

Chairman Garbarino also asked about the shutdown’s impact on our cybersecurity posture, to which CISA Acting Director Andersen testified:

“There’s a variety of assessments that CISA completes day to day, whether that’s working with the private sector or it’s working with our state and local partners or across the federal ecosystem… It’s an exceedingly dynamic thread environment, as you know, both in the cybersecurity landscape and in the physical security landscape. Even a reduced capacity within these essential functions presents a real opportunity for our adversaries to be able to take advantage of that gap in capability.” 

Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement Chairman Michael Guest (R-MS) asked about the long-term security implications of repeated shutdowns, to which witnesses testified: 

TSA Acting Administrator McNeill testified: 

“We are really concerned about our security posture and what the long-term impacts of the shutdown is going to have on the workforce and our ability to carry out the mission.”

CISA Acting Director Andersen testified: 

“The threat environment is too dynamic to allow this shutdown to continue on.”

FEMA Associate Administrator Barton testified: 

“We are crippling our disaster response and recovery abilities by the day.”

Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security Chairman Carlos Giménez (R-FL) asked about how the Democrats’ refusal to fund homeland security harms the Coast Guard’s ability to recruit, to which Coast Guard Vice Commandant Allan testified:

“When you look at the Coast Guard, this is a profession, this isn’t a job. This is bringing in people for long-term to not only better our nation, but to provide a pivot in their life… They’re looking at other services who are being paid and know that they’re going to be paid… That is having a long-term uncertainty and readiness impact on our people.”

Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence Chair August Pfluger (R-TX) asked about the role of TSA in mitigating terrorist threats to the homeland, to which TSA Acting Administrator McNeill testified:

“The aviation sector has always been a target of interest for terrorists. That has been since the days of 9/11 and continues to be so… Every day we look at our risk posture, and we amend our operations to make sure that we are putting the strongest security barriers up as possible. And we continue to do that despite not being funded for the third time this year.” 

Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology Chairman Dale Strong (R-AL) asked how U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) operations are being undermined by the DHS funding lapse, to which FEMA Associate Administrator Barton testified:

“The USFA has had to cancel several of their training… These critical trainings being postponed are impacting training and responsibilities throughout the nation, as well as the opportunity for emergency responders to coordinate and share lessons with each other in person.”

Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-TX) asked how the shutdown is impacting cybersecurity personnel, to which CISA Acting Director Andersen testified: 

“We have employees that are having to make the choice right now… We have a woman that’s a single mother who’s having to make the choice right now between continuing to care for her aging parents or continuing to care for her child and be able to pay her bills. That type of calculus for individual employees, they shouldn’t have to make that type of burdensome choice between serving their nation and continuing to serve their families.” 

Rep. Sheri Biggs (R-SC) asked how the shutdown is undermining the Coast Guard’s ability to protect critical defense supply chains, to which Coast Guard Vice Commandant Allan testified:

“Our defense industrial base is suffering right now. We need to rebuild it. Right now, what we are seeing is ships in our shipyards [stop work] because we cannot pay the bills. We are seeing crucial readiness that needs to be done in the repair of these ships… They’re asking us to leave those shipyards because we cannot pay the bills… In many cases, shipyards and industrial base leaders, that’s 25% of their total income… What we worry about is that it’s not only a near-term impact, but as we bid for these contracts with these companies in the future, they’re not going to come to the Coast Guard.”

Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA) asked how security preparations for the FIFA World Cup have been impacted by Democrats’ refusal to fully fund DHS, to which witnesses testified: 

Coast Guard Vice Commandant Allan testified: 

“As we do planning for these big events, we have missed milestones. And our estimate is every day that there is a shutdown, it takes us two and a half days to recover.”

TSA Acting Administrator McNeill testified:

“First, it’s about staffing the airports that are supporting the FIFA locations. We have plans in place, but that is based on what we understand our laydown to be. If we see a spike in attrition, we’re going to have to pivot. And as I mentioned earlier, hiring and training takes a while, and so that will impact our posture for FIFA. On the other part of this is the counter-UAS mission. Our federal air marshals are acquiring technology… We’re running right up to the wire in our ability to procure, deploy, and train with these counter-UAS technologies.”

CISA Acting Director Andersen testified: 

“Whether it’s for World Cup or America 250 events or LA 2028 prep, we’re going to continue to see compounding impacts here that are going to affect both the items that require proactive planning like that and our ability to have a ready workforce that’s going to be able to respond to reactive elements within our threat environment.”

FEMA Associate Administrator Barton testified: 

“FEMA’s role in the FIFA World Cup planning, we provide critical funding, training, and preparedness support to these communities, including security planning. The compacted effects of multiple shutdowns over the last six months clearly has made us miss some milestones… As this continues, I imagine we will continue to see more breakdowns as we do not have our entire team in place to work on these efforts.”

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