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House Homeland Security hearing spotlights operational harms from multi‑week DHS shutdown
Summary
Leaders from TSA, the Coast Guard, CISA and FEMA told the committee that the multi‑week DHS funding lapse has left essential personnel unpaid, driven attrition and paused key preparedness and procurement activities ahead of high‑profile events such as the FIFA World Cup.
Chairman Garbarino opened a House Homeland Security hearing by calling the ongoing DHS funding lapse "reckless, dangerous, and unacceptable," and saying the shutdown has caused "massive disruptions" to airports, cybersecurity and disaster response. Ranking Member Mr. Thompson replied that both parties and White House decisions bear responsibility and pressed for immediate funding and oversight, including for ICE and CBP leadership that Democrats asked to testify but were not invited.
Witnesses from four DHS components described immediate operational consequences. "If this shutdown continues, we will continue to lose talented and experienced employees," Acting Administrator Ms. Ham McNeal of the Transportation Security Administration told the panel, noting the agency has lost "over 480 TSOs this shutdown" and that it takes "4 to 6 months to onboard and train a new TSO." Ms. McNeal said TSA had been shut down for "50% of the time, or 85 days"…
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