WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) is leading a new effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security. However, Democrats say his efforts are nothing more than “political theatre.”
DHS has been shut down since Valentine’s Day. The financial effect on DHS employees was felt for the first time Wednesday as workers received only half of the two-weeks’ pay they were due. Cole presented his DHS funding package to the House Rules Committee, arguing for immediate consideration.
“The bill before us today is substantively identical to the bill that previously passed the House in January. It represents a bipartisan and bicameral negotiated compromise that provides full funding for the Department of Homeland Security for Fiscal Year 2026,” Rep. Tom Cole said.
Cole, the first Native American to chair the House Appropriations Committee, also expressed the importance of getting DHS back open amid the conflict with Iran.
“This weekend, Iran has begun lashing out in all directions, lobbing ballistic missiles around the entire Middle East region and unleashing their terror proxies on innocent civilians. Now, more than ever, we need the Department of Homeland Security to be up and running and doing their jobs to defend Americans from these threats,” Cole said.
Democrats reject GOP funding bill
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, said her hopes are not high for Cole’s funding package to pass.
“The bill we are considering today has no chance of becoming law. None whatsoever,” DeLauro said. “Republican leadership knows this and is still choosing to waste time on political theater, while the president’s reckless choice to start a war with Iran puts American lives in danger.
“There is, however, a piece of legislation that has a very strong chance of passing both chambers. If only Republican leadership would allow it to come to a vote. That is legislation I introduced last month, which would fund the Department of Homeland Security, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard, Secret Service, and other non-controversial components of DHS,” DeLauro said.
Republicans and Democrats are at loggerheads over DHS funding because Democrats want to force changes in the ways Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is conducting deportation raids that have resulted in two U.S. citizens killed and several others shot.
Shutdown strains DHS agencies and workers
On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told the Senate Judiciary Committee, “While lifesaving response operations may continue in the short term, a shutdown delays reimbursements to states, disrupts recovery efforts, furloughs personnel who coordinate with local partners, and halts critical preparedness activities – including first responder training and hurricane season planning,” Noem said.
“I would hope we can all five agree that FEMA should not be defunded and the men and women protecting our country deserve to be paid.”
Noem widened her stance on the shutdown beyond FEMA, pinpointing which agencies will continue to be financially harmed if a shutdown continues. She said the shutdown is “degrading the capabilities of other frontline DHS components that the American people depend on every day.” The impact is also being felt at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, where according to Noem, “two thirds of our workforce have been furloughed.”
The funding difficulty extends to the TSA, Secret Service and Coast Guard. Noem said the situation “places tremendous strain on the men and women of TSA,” where nearly all workers “will continue screening millions of passengers and billions of bags … but many will do so without pay.”
Oklahoma delegation weighs in as Iran conflict looms
U.S. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) weighed in on the shutdown when interviewed Tuesday by George Stephanopoulos of ABC News.
“Let’s get DHS funded again, by the way. We need to make sure we are defending the homeland by also funding what’s happening here at home,” Lankford said.
Other than Lankford and Cole, the Oklahoma delegation has been focused on the conflict with Iran rather than the DHS shutdown. The all-Republican delegation mostly supported the Trump administration’s military effort titled “Operation Epic Fury.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) took to the defensive when pressured about his support of Trump’s military operations in Iran.
“I don’t remember him saying anything in 2016 when Barack Obama, at the time, dropped 26,000 bombs in Syria, Pakistan, Libya, just to name a few. And I definitely don’t remember my colleagues in 2013 at all complaining about then-President Barack Obama going into Syria,” Mullin said.
The political deadlock and DHS funding lapse are expected to persist for at least another day. Republican leadership has announced it will permit a vote on Rep. Tom Cole’s DHS funding package to occur on Thursday.
