CHAD PERGRAM: Ongoing DHS shutdown setting precedent for future crises

If you thought the congressional appropriations process couldn’t get any worse, here’s the year 2026. And maybe beyond.

The Department of Homeland Security remains closed, running on pocket lint, lost nickels between the couch cushions, and faded green S&H stamps (look for them, kids). Congress has not funded DHS for two months. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., worked on a political pretzel: opposing, then supporting, then failing to act on a package passed by the Senate to fund most of DHS.

As we always say, it’s all about math, and when it comes to DHS money, it appears members have closed a box for which they are missing the match. There is apparently no sequence of votes in the House and Senate that could break the security of DHS as a traditional, stand-alone appropriations bill.

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Now, congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump are turning to one of the few methods that might work to fund DHS: something called budget reconciliation.

The congressional budget reconciliation process is not routinely used for appropriations bills, although lawmakers can supplement the measure with money to spend on federal programs. However, reconciliation is inoculated against obstructionism. Therefore, Republicans do not need 60 votes. They can – apparently – pass a DHS bill on their own, without help from Democrats, if they keep their tight coalitions together in both the House and Senate.

Congressional Republicans intend to fill this reconciliation package with only money for ICE and Customs and Border Patrol. Nothing for disaster relief. Nothing for the farmers. Nothing about the SAVE America Act. The president agrees. The goal is to finish this by June 1, months after the last DHS funding lapse.

But it’s more complicated than that.

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The House and Senate must take a series of steps to pass a backdoor budget resolution to make the tool of filibuster-proof reconciliation at their disposal. Republicans undertook a similar effort last winter and spring. It was an absolutely harrowing and exhausting few months before we finally passed the single, big, beautiful bill through reconciliation. Republicans don’t have that kind of time now. On the other hand, DHS has not been funded or held together by stopgap spending bills since last October.

We haven’t even mentioned how Trump is using somewhat dubious authority to pay TSA workers and others with other funds, without congressional approval.

That leaves some wondering why the administration didn’t do this to begin with. But the bigger problem is an alarming pattern in which Congress cedes its most prized prerogative – the power of the purse – to the executive branch. That doesn’t say anything about whether Trump’s tactic of paying workers is equally constitutional. And it sets a precedent that may be difficult to ignore during other funding impasses.

However, here is the biggest problem: the paralysis of Congress in passing appropriations bills in a timely manner. That’s been a problem for years.

Historically, Congress has missed the October 1 fiscal deadline, relying on “Continuing Resolutions” (CRs) that simply renew all funding temporarily. Or, lawmakers cobble together a set of 12 annual spending bills into a “minibus” appropriations package. Legislators who might oppose an individual bill are willing to support a group of bills, because there is something there that they like or support.

But turning to reconciliation as a way out of the appropriations cannon is also another precedent likely to worry congressional appropriators. Sure. They have done it before. And in this case, it could finally get funding from DHS. But what does this mean for the future?

Which brings us to October 1, 2026. That’s when the federal government moves from fiscal year 2026 to begin fiscal year 2027.

Congress has struggled to fund the federal government since early 2025, when it began working on appropriations bills for this year. The FY26 funding crisis, which led to the record 43-day government-wide shutdown in the fall, another partial government shutdown last winter, and the current DHS impasse, has been an issue since members of Parliament were working on bills for this cycle around this time last spring. So how do we know if Congress will avoid a shutdown THIS fall for FY27?

In fact, few even talk about that possible danger, because no one can understand the current appropriation saga. And this fall’s problems may be worse than last fall’s stalemate. The reason? The midterm elections were held in November. It is doubtful that either side will be willing to reach a major deal just before voters go to the polls.

The scenarios are scary to understand, so people just ignore them.

WATCH IT: LAWYERS STUCK ON VACATION AMID RECORD SHUTDOWN WHILE DHS WORKERS UNPAID

We have entered a new period of semi-perpetual clashes over funding, exacerbated by distrust between the parties, narrow congressional margins in both the House and Senate, parliamentary math equations that don’t balance, and Trump’s unwillingness to negotiate deals or even negotiate with Democrats.

Yes. They have options to cover DHS through next year, but it’s the other 11 spending bills that could be problematic.

Imagine trying to pass a defense spending bill that is priced 44% higher than last year? Or add a lot of money to the war in Iran?

Where is the combined vote to pass a CR, much less an individual bill? Will Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., be willing to help Republicans reach the 60-vote threshold to fund things? Especially if he sees a chance to emerge as majority leader again? Probably not.

And let’s say Democrats win the House, the Senate, or both in the fall? Do you really think these clashes over spending will improve during the final two years of Trump’s term?

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Let’s get back to Chevy Chase and Clark Griswold. There’s a second part to that iconic Christmas Vacation quote: “We’re on the threshold of hell!” declares.

Funny enough, but not if you’re trying to keep the government open after last year’s adventures. This is not funny for millions of federal workers who suffer from PTSD. Another round of spending chaos could only erode greater trust between federal workers and their employers. It will damage morale, which is already underground. Not to mention courting people to work for the government.

Yes. Things can get a lot worse. The political schisms run deep and the voting matrices to pass the bills simply do not exist.

It may be spring, but the movie Christmas Vacation offers some insight into where we stand on congressional appropriations bills: “It’s Christmas and we’re all destitute,” declares Ellen Griswold, played by Beverly D’Angelo.

Yes. And wait until you see what Congress has in store for THIS Christmas.