Pallone to House Republicans: Don’t Shut Down the Department of Homeland Security

LONG BRANCH, NJ – Today, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) visited U.S. Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook to urge House Republicans to immediately pass clean legislation to continue funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). With only 10 calendar days and four legislative days until DHS shuts down on February 28th, Pallone highlighted the critical resources at stake if the agency is not funded. Pallone was joined by Jim Donofrio, Executive Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance and Atlantic Highlands Councilman Roy Dellosso.

“The department charged with ensuring that our country is safe is set to run out of funding in less than two weeks all because House Republicans insist on pandering to extremists in their own party,” said Congressman Pallone. “Keeping American families safe should be the first priority of Congress. With increased threats around the world and real impacts here at home, holding this funding hostage is the height of irresponsibility. This is not governing. House Republicans must stop with the partisan stunts and, instead, vote to continue funding DHS immediately.”

House Republicans insisted on attaching riders that would disallow enforcement of President Obama’s recent executive actions on immigration to the legislation that would continue to fund DHS. The bill, with these extreme anti-immigrant measures attached, was unable to pass the U.S. Senate, and now House Republicans still refuse to pass a clean proposal. Last week, however, every House Democrat cosponsored clean legislation that will continue funding DHS.

On Monday, a United States District Court ruled against President Obama’s executive actions, and DHS has subsequently announced that it will temporarily suspend implementation of the executive orders until legal issues are resolved. Despite this delay, the GOP is still forcing a shutdown by refusing to bring a clean bill to the House floor.

“Local fishermen depend on the Coast Guard when they find themselves in emergency situations out on the water,” said Jim Donofrio. “And forcing these officials to work without pay will cause a distraction that is not needed when lives are at stake. We need to make sure that DHS is fully funded so that essential personnel are ready and available if needed.”

“We know that the effects of shutting down DHS will be felt here in our community and in communities across the country,” said Councilman Dellosso. “It is reckless to simply ignore the impacts that a potential shutdown will have on our residents and those that serve our community. Putting Americans’ safety at risk all for a partisan stunt is no way to run the government.”

If House Republicans refuse to vote on a clean DHS funding bill, approximately 30,000 employees, who perform critical tasks every day, would be furloughed under a GOP shutdown. Additionally, although tens of thousands of frontline security personnel would continue to work in the event of a shutdown, they would be forced to do so without pay. Among those expected to continue serving and protecting the American people without getting paid would be:

· More than 40,000 Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection Officers;

· More than 50,000 TSA aviation security screeners;

· More than 13,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement law enforcement agents and officers;

· More than 40,000 active duty Coast Guard military members;

· More than 4,000 Secret Service law enforcement agents and officers.


A potential GOP shutdown would also close down the bulk of DHS’s management activities and support of the homeland security infrastructure, built following the 9/11 terrorist attacks that continue to keep our country safe on a daily basis. A DHS shutdown would undermine our national security in the following ways:

• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would have to close down its training activities with local law enforcement on possible Weapons of Mass Destruction events
• DHS’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, which helps coordinate the efforts of local law enforcement agencies across the country since 9/11 to detect and report dangerous nuclear materials, would stop operating.
• Research and development activities at DHS would come to a halt. These current R&D activities include working on enhancing passenger screening equipment, enhancing cargo screening technologies, improving nuclear detection equipment, and developing countermeasures to biological threats.
• All DHS and FEMA personnel working on state and local grants programs would be furloughed, further delaying essential state and local grants that help protect the homeland, improve local law enforcement, and keep our communities safe.