Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Tuesday that his department will not have money to pay employees through the first week of May, as lawmakers race to end a two-month shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
Appearing on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning, the secretary explained that the money to pay staff salaries was coming from money Congress allocated to DHS through President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful bill last year. But DHS has a massive payroll burden, Mullin said, and if the department is not defunded, additional funding will run out as early as next month.
“My payroll through DHS is over $1.6 billion every two weeks, so the money is going away very quickly and once that’s done, there’s no emergency fund after that,” Mullin said. “I have one payroll left and no more emergency funds, so the President can’t make any more executive orders because there’s no more money.”
Mullin said about two-thirds of the department’s workforce has been placed on leave and called on Democrats to explain why they are “putting the homeland at risk” and urged that Democratic holdouts be “held accountable.”
The incredibly candid admission about DHS’s financial crunch comes as Republicans are trying to push through a funding package that would defund most agencies under the Department of Homeland Security, while blocking funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection in the budget reconciliation package.
Trump has given lawmakers until June 1 to pass a funding bill to cover immigration enforcement agencies, as Democrats continue to oppose additional funding for ICE and CBP without changes to the way immigration enforcement operates.
Sen lindsey graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, is expected to introduce a resolution Tuesday that would direct their respective committees to draft funding legislation for ICE and CBP. That bill could pass the Senate by Thursday.
Representative. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday that the House will move quickly to pass a budget resolution","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/04/21/congress/house-could-vote-on-budget-resolution-next-week-00883049","_Identification": :"0000019d-b0a5-d084-a1bd-fef7e4c60000","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-b0a5-d084-a1bd-fef7e4c60001","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>Will move quickly to pass budget proposal Once it clears the Senate.
