CRANSTON, RI – With a tight deadline looming and Republican infighting increasing the odds of a partial shutdown of the federal agency charged with protecting our homeland, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse today discussed the importance of fully funding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the interest of Rhode Island’s public safety, and urged their Senate colleagues to support a clean DHS funding bill before the agency faces a shutdown in just 15 days.

Last December, Congress agreed to fund the rest of the federal government through the fiscal year, but Republicans insisted that DHS funds should expire on February 27th.  Senators Reed and Whitehouse have repeatedly called for Congress to pass a clean bill -- free of extraneous policy riders -- to fully fund DHS through the remainder of the fiscal year.  However, Republican leaders continue to hold DHS funding hostage to protest President Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

According to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, a shutdown would result in the furlough of about 30,000 employees, while keeping another 200,000 on the job without pay until the shutdown ends.  Frontline personnel at Customs and Border Patrol (CBP); Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Transportation Security Administration (TSA); the U.S. Coast Guard; and other DHS-related agencies who work during the shutdown would not receive paychecks until the shutdown ended, new hires would be delayed, and the bulk of DHS management and administrative staff activities would cease.

“I am disappointed that some Republicans are putting partisanship ahead of funding the Department of Homeland Security.  While it may not cripple our homeland security efforts immediately, a DHS shutdown will waste time and millions of dollars each week it goes on.  More than that, it will further demoralize the people who work to keep the country safe and will distract from efforts to combat new threats, such as cyber-attacks,” said Reed.  “Federal funding from DHS is critically important for the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency as well as many local fire departments, so this is an issue that may have a noticeable impact right here in Rhode Island.  I urge my Republican colleagues to avoid this self-inflicted disaster and pass a clean, bipartisan bill.”

“DHS agencies protect us from serious security threats, and FEMA helps communities cope with disasters like the floods and hurricanes we’ve experienced in Rhode Island in recent years,” said Whitehouse.  “We should not be playing political games with the funding for these agencies.  I strongly urge Republicans in Congress stop threatening a DHS shutdown and pass a bill to fully fund these essential operations.”

A DHS shutdown would hit the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant programs particularly hard.  The Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA), as well as local emergency managers, depend on federal funding, through DHS’s Emergency Management Performance Grant and Homeland Security Grant, to build the capacity they need to respond. 

Reed and Whitehouse explained that shutting down DHS would be a costly mistake that would create needless uncertainty about federal funding.  A funding lapse could significantly delay grants that our first responders rely on and make it harder for the state to be reimbursed for the cost of digging out from repeated snowstorms.

Also at risk are three federal grant programs that help local fire departments purchase new equipment, protective gear, and emergency vehicles: the Assistance to Firefighter Grant (AFG) Program; Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program; and Fire Prevention & Safety (FP&S) Grant Program.  Local fire departments across the state have used federal funding from these to purchase new trucks and equipment.

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