What You Need to Know About How the DHS Shutdown Could Affect You
Funding for the Department of Homeland Security has expired, which could jeopardize critical government services such as aviation security and disaster relief.
Funding for the 9/11-era Cabinet agency ended after Friday, February 13, as negotiations continued between the Democratic Congress and the White House on curbing immigration enforcement. No deal was in sight as lawmakers went on a planned weeklong recess, many taking planned trips overseas.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, promised earlier this week that Democrats will not defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement without additional restrictions on immigration enforcement.
“The Republican bill on the floor allows ICE to break down doors without warrants, to wear masks and not be identified, to use children as cover for their parents,” Schumer said in a video statement posted on social media on February 12. “No surveillance?
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said on Fox News Feb. 12 hopes that the Democrats will make a funding agreement with the White House over the weekend.
“This isn’t just ICE. This isn’t just, you know, Border Patrol. This is FEMA. This is TSA. This is Coast Guard. This is cybersecurity. It’s a whole bunch of things covered by this bill,” Thune said.
Much of Homeland Security’s work, including ICE’s operations, will continue even if the agency is shut down. Still, the heads of some of the department’s most critical agencies warned lawmakers before the latest funding lapse that the consequences of a prolonged shutdown could be dire.
The TSA
DHS has not publicly released an updated contingency plan for the shutdown, but it generally requires most of TSA’s more than 64,000 employees to remain on the job without pay.
TSA Acting Director Ha Nguyen McNeill told lawmakers on February 11 that the roughly 61,000 workers at more than 430 commercial airports who will be affected by another funding loss will not face it again.
“Some are still recovering from the financial impact of the 43-day shutdown,” he said. We cannot explain it in another incident like this. It would be careless.”
Often, as the shutdown drags on, the call rates for TSA agents increase, leading to longer wait times in airport security lines.
Coast Guard
The Coast Guard, under DHS during peacetime, will be required to suspend operations not essential to national security and the protection of life and property.
“Hanging up the phone cripples morale,” said the Deputy Adm. Thomas Allan, acting deputy commander of the Coast Guard, during the Feb. 11.
Allan told lawmakers that the shutdown would create deferred maintenance and could affect the paychecks of 56,000 working and unemployed workers.
FEMA
Most Federal Emergency Management Agency employees will also work without pay. Gregg Phillips, who heads FEMA, said on February 11 that the shutdown would “severely impair” the agency’s ability to reimburse states for disaster relief costs.
He expressed concern about the approaching typhoon season.
“A shutdown of the federal government will have serious and dire consequences for FEMA’s operations and the nation’s ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters,” he told lawmakers.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What you need to know about how the DHS shutdown could affect you
Reporting by Zachary Schermele and Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
