The DHS shutdown is leading to unpaid utility bills at the Coast Guard, a vacuum of cyber planning activities at CISA, and grounded aircraft at CBP.
Department of Homeland Security officials are warning about a growing backlog of contracts, planning activities and more delays as a result of the two-month-long government shutdown.
DHS officials, testifying before multiple committees on Thursday about fiscal 2027 budget requests, flagged the ongoing impacts of Congress failing to pass a 2026 budget for the department. The DHS-specific shutdown began Feb. 14.
Adm. Kevin Lunday, commandant of the Coast Guard, applauded the Trump administration’s recent decision to use funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill to pay DHS personnel, including Coast Guard civilians, who had gone without paychecks for weeks.
But, he said the shutdown continues to threaten other aspects of Coast Guard operations.
“We also have over 5,000 unpaid utility bills, over a hundred providers that have threatened to cut off electricity and water to our Coast Guard stations and air stations,” Lunday told the House Appropriations homeland Security subcommittee on Thursday. “And we’ve got a growing backlog of 18,000 Merchant Mariner credentials that are not processed at a time when the U.S. is trying to rebuild our maritime might.”
Nick Andersen, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, noted just 40% of CISA’s staff had been working through much of the shutdown, until DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin recalled furloughed staff last week.
But Andersen said CISA still isn’t legally allowed to carry out certain activities, such as outreach. That’s despite ongoing threats to critical infrastructure systems due to the conflict in Iran.
Andersen noted that CISA did release a joint cybersecurity advisory on Iranian threat actors last week. But he said the agency is “more limited than I would like” in its ability to counter threats.
“A lot of those preparatory activities within the environment, a lot of the outreach that we would typically be able to do, that’s simply not possible or legally allowed during the period of a shutdown,” Andersen said. “We’re doing everything that we can.”
During an earlier hearing before the same House subcommittee, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott noted how the shutdown has impacted CBP’s service contracts.
“Aircraft, patrol boats, patrol vehicles that need service, they’re being parked,” Scott said. “Border surveillance equipment that requires maintenance is offline until funding is appropriated. Our confidential human sources are not being paid and we’re at risk of losing some of our intelligence tools that help us secure the border.”
During a Senate Appropriations homeland security subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, witnesses also discussed the impacts of the shutdown on DHS’s planning for this summer’s FIFA World Cup.
Chris Tomney, director of the Office of Homeland Security Situational Awareness at DHS, said the lapse has “significantly impacted our operations,” pointing to the hundreds of Transportation Security Administration employees who have quit in recent months.
“It has hindered our coordination with state and locals,” Tomney added. “It has reduced our planning efforts. With all that being said, though, let me assure this committee and the members of the public, we will have a safe, we will have a secure, it will be an enjoyable tournament, but it has had a negative impact on the planning.”
Meanwhile, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought claimed the Trump administration’s move to re-direct funds to pay all DHS workers during the shutdown was done so Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin “doesn’t have a complete walkout on his hands.”
“As of right now, the Department of Homeland Security is disintegrating because the secretary and I are having to figure out ways to temporarily fund people’s paychecks so we don’t have people quit and embark on new careers,” Vought said during a Thursday hearing before the Senate Budget Committee.
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