The clock runs down on DHS funding as lawmakers look for a path out of another shutdown fight

Guest:	Mitchell Miller
Title:	Capitol Hill Reporter, WTOP
Summary:	With just five days left before the DHS continuing resolution runs out, lawmakers are weighing a mix of short‑term fixes and longer‑shot options to keep the department open. Those talks are unfolding alongside a crowded agenda that includes the SAVE Act, questions about crypto and banking, and the launch of a new Federal Workforce Caucus.

The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton provides expert insights on current events in the federal community. Read more interviews to keep up with daily news and analysis that affect the federal workforce. Reach out to Terry and the Federal Drive producers with feedback and story ideas at FederalDrive@federalnewsnetwork.com.

Interview transcript

Terry Gerton The top topic for us for the last several weeks has been appropriations. They’ve managed to get now 11 of the bills through, but DHS is the problem child, and they’ve only got five days to sort it out. What are you hearing?

Mitchell Miller It’s still a pretty big problem child and I think it’s going to continue to be this week. They just can’t seem to get to a middle ground on these reforms related to ICE and the border patrol. Democrats thought by making a two-week continuing resolution for DHS that that would put pressure and keep the momentum moving and that they could quickly do this. Republicans have always been skeptical that this could be done by this Friday. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) was on the floor last week saying basically that they were not getting anywhere in connection with these talks, and he said, I told you so. He just did not think that the two-week window was going to be large enough, and it does look like it is not going to large enough unless there’s some miraculous development this week. Now, there has been a relatively new development where a lot of lawmakers are now quietly talking about the fact that they would like to maybe somehow tease out some of the overall DHS bill and pull out some of the things that are in it. So, of course, that includes FEMA, TSA, the Coast Guard. You know, Democrats and Republicans both know that this is not a winning issue to shut down any of these agencies. And so they are talking about maybe coming up with some kind of legislative proposal — it’s still in its early stages — where they would take that out and then they would leave the Homeland Security piece in connection with ICE and the Border Patrol as something that they will have to deal with moving forward. And we’ll have to see how that will be done, because I think that could be kind of legislatively tricky, although the Senate can effectively make up its own rules as it goes along. So I think, that’s something to look for this week.

        In this latest webinar, government and industry experts explore how federal organizations can establish mission-aligned goals for AI systems, measure REAL cybersecurity outcomes and track effectiveness over time. Register now!

Terry Gerton I was going to ask, have you ever seen that done where instead of a department appropriation, particular sub-agencies get their own?

Mitchell Miller I have not, you know, not recently at any rate, I mean it was already somewhat unique that when they took this package that they put it in an omnibus and then they pulled out Department of Homeland Security on its own. That in itself was rather unique. So now we’re getting into the real micro-cutting of this agency in this overall bill, and trying splice it down to these little agencies. That shows you, I think, how difficult they are finding these reforms, as far as where they can agree on so many of them. They can certainly agree on a few of them, but there’s nothing close to the 10 points that the Democrats came out with last week.

Terry Gerton Even if they are successful in that approach, I mean, CBP and ICE have plenty of money for operations left over from the One Big Beautiful Bill. So they won’t really be shut down, would they?

Mitchell Miller Right. And that’s, I think, what a lot of the more moderate Democrats are trying to tell the more liberal wing of the party, which wants to really take ICE down to the studs and really redo it. And what these other lawmakers are saying is, look, they already have a big pot of money. They got a ton of money in the Big Beautiful Bill. You’re absolutely right. So, you know, even if they try to make a statement, it really doesn’t have any practical impact, if you will, related to those areas because they have so much funding right now.

Terry Gerton So in the short run, come Friday, what do you think we’re most likely to see? Another two-week CR, a full-year CR for DHS, or progress on this splitting things apart?

Mitchell Miller I would guess that we might have some progress on this splitting things apart. You know, when I was talking to lawmakers this past week, they were really hesitant to weigh in on whether there, for example, would be another two-week continuing resolution. I actually asked that question to Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D), who you’ll remember actually voted with Republicans in connection with the whole health care ordeal and getting the government opened again, and he said, you know what, I just want to wait and see what Republicans do. Well, we’re already seeing that a lot of Republicans are just not going to go along with these reforms. So I think they’re going to have to figure out another off-ramp. Really, a lot people don’t want another two-week CR because they just think it’ll just be the proverbial kicking can down the road and it won’t get anything done.

Terry Gerton I’m speaking with Mitchell Miller. He’s Capitol Hill correspondent for WTOP. Mitchell, this is really consuming like almost all of the legislative energy, but part of what was going on with the DHS conversation before was about the SAVE Act, voting registration requirements. How is that playing into these conversations now?

        Sign up for our daily newsletter so you never miss a beat on all things federal

Mitchell Miller That has actually become a really big deal, and it just kind of reemerged not completely out of nowhere, but certainly it was on the back burner for a while. But a lot of conservatives in the House said they wanted to make sure that they got a vote on this. It actually held up the vote to reopen the partial government shutdown situation last week. And ultimately, now House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he will bring that up for a vote this week. And the SAVE Act, of course, requiring in-person identification saying that you are a U.S. citizen, and they say it’s just a matter of common sense that it needs to be done. Democrats, on the other hand, say that states say there have not been problems in connection with identification and that they have been overblown by Republicans. And then there’s this issue that many people have heard about, maybe vaguely, that if you’re a woman who has been married and you have to go back and show your ID from when you were not married, could that cause confusion for people? They just think it’s going to, Democrats at least, think it is going to open up a can of worms. Republicans just say, look, you’ve got to show ID for so many other things. Why wouldn’t you have to do this to vote? So I think what will happen legislatively is that this will pass in the House, and then we’ll have to see what happens with the Senate. There’s certainly a lot of Democrats digging in in the Senate, saying that they will likely filibuster this, but Republicans feel like they have a pretty strong issue here, so I’ll be interested to see how that evolves.

Copyright © 2026 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.