EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans to hold hearing on DHS shutdown risks amid travel surge
EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans are sounding the alarm about the costs of a prolonged Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown as the funding lapse drags on with no end in sight....
By Fox News · Fox News
EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans are sounding the alarm about the costs of a prolonged Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown as the funding lapse drags on with no end in sight. The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing next Wednesday examining the security risks and financial hardship many DHS employees are facing as a result of the shutdown, Fox News Digital has learned. Senior officials from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Coast Guard and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) — agencies overseen by DHS — are expected to testify about how the funding lapse is impacting their operations and the well-being of their personnel. House Republicans have slammed nearly all Democrats for withholding their support for a full-year DHS measure amid a massive spring travel season and a heightened threat environment amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. The department is still expected to be shut down next week after Democrats panned the White House’s latest counteroffer on reforms to immigration enforcement, which Democrats have demanded to end the funding lapse. "Amid one of the busiest travel seasons and as we face heightened physical and cyber threats from the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and other adversaries, it is deeply troubling that DHS’s core mission continues to be undermined by Democrats’ political games," Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., said in a statement. "Each day this shutdown continues, it jeopardizes the safety of Americans and creates worsening financial hardship for the frontline DHS personnel who work hard every day to protect the homeland." TSA PAY BILL UNVEILED AS SHUTDOWN LEAVES AGENTS UNPAID, STRAINS AIRPORT SECURITY The shutdown’s impact on air travel has become a growing headache for Americans — 170 million of whom are expected to pass through the country’s airports during the spring travel season this year. More tha…