What Happened?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is running on a temporary funding patch, a stopgap measure called a continuing resolution, that expires Dec. 11. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has no full-year budget for fiscal year 2027, and a stopgap measure is keeping it funded at last year's spending levels until that deadline.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) published a report laying out what Congress still needs to resolve.

Why Does it Matter to Me?

The stopgap allows up to $26.37 billion for Disaster Relief Fund activities, but the CRS report cautions that is not new money. Any funds spent now count against whatever Congress eventually appropriates for the full year. The stopgap funding law, signed by President Trump on Sept. 2, also extends several immigration-related authorities, including E-Verify and supplemental H-2B visa authority.

Both Sides, Now

The Trump administration released a $118.39 billion budget request for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on April 3, and the House Appropriations Committee reported H.R. 9310 on June 12 by a 34-27 vote, providing $99.63 billion in discretionary budget authority.

Incident sources document concrete disruptions during the earlier lapse. Reuters reported on Feb. 19 that the administration ordered FEMA to suspend deploying hundreds of aid workers to disaster-affected areas while DHS was shut down. NPR reported that TSA's acting administrator told a House hearing some employees took second jobs during the 43-day lapse and were still recovering financially.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet marked up its version of the fiscal year 2027 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill, according to the Congressional Research Service report.

What Happens Next?

Since fiscal year 2010, no annual DHS appropriations bill has been enacted before at least two months of the fiscal year had passed; in 14 of those 17 years, three months elapsed before enactment.

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