Why It Matters

A recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, published Aug. 7, examines how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has navigated three separate funding lapses in fiscal year 2026, a historic disruption that upended how Congress funds one of the government's largest agencies.

For tens of thousands of federal employees, including Border Patrol agents and TSA officers, prolonged shutdowns mean working without pay. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were funded through a separate fiscal year 2026 reconciliation measure, and the fiscal year 2025 reconciliation law, including a $10 billion appropriation for reimbursing costs associated with DHS's border security mission. For Congress, the breakdowns reveal how immigration disputes have transformed DHS appropriations into a legislative bottleneck that can freeze the entire department.

The Big Picture

Since fiscal year 2010, DHS appropriations have been enacted as a standalone measure only twice, according to the report. Both times occured due to immigration and border security disputes blocked the agency from being included in consolidated appropriations packages.

In fiscal year 2026, the first lapse lasted 43 days, from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, 2025. A second, shorter lapse followed from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, 2026. Then came the longest: a 76-day shutdown for most of DHS beginning Feb. 14, 2026, with certain components like CBP and ICE remaining unfunded for 116 days through June 10.

The appropriations lapses represent the two longest partial shutdowns of any department since the modern budget process began in 1974. During these periods, approximately 85 percent of DHS's workforce, or 200,000 workers, continued operating.

The administration deployed an unconventional workaround. It used $10 billion in multi-year reconciliation funding from fiscal year 2025 to pay salaries for 70,000 DHS law enforcement personnel, including Border Patrol, ICE, the Secret Service, and TSA air marshals, according to the report.

The Bottom Line

The fiscal year 2026 cycle established a new precedent with unclear consequences. Reconciliation funding comes without the detailed direction and oversight provisions usually included in appropriations measures, and there is no clear precedent for how multi-year reconciliation funding interacts with annual appropriations. Meanwhile, the lapses inflicted concrete damage. DHS appropriations have become a distinct legislative bargaining chip, separable from the rest of the federal budget.

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