Government Shutdown

Mullin: DHS to run out of emergency funds to pay staff in early May

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says DHS will soon run out of emergency funds, as a Congressional plan to end the shutdown remains uncertain.

Justin Doubleday@jdoubledayWFED

April 21, 2026 5:21 pm

2 min read

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says the Department of Homeland Security will run out of the “emergency funds” it’s using to pay workers during the shutdown in early May.

DHS has been tapping money from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to pay its employees during the partial government shutdown.

During an appearance on Fox & Friends on Tuesday, Mullin said the money is going “extremely fast.” He said DHS’s payroll is $1.6 billion every two weeks.

“After we get through April, which I got two more weeks, I’ve got one payroll left, and there are no more emergency funds, so the president can’t do another executive order for us to use money, because there’s no more money,” Mullin said.

The partial government shutdown began Feb. 14. For the first seven weeks of the shutdown, DHS initially just paid law enforcement officers, select civilians at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol, and Coast Guard service members.

But in late March, President Donald Trump directed DHS to use emergency funds available from OBBA to pay Transportation Security Administration employees. The order was aimed at stemming a rising tide of TSA callouts that had led to long security lines at some airports. A DHS spokesperson said more than 780 TSA officers have quit since the start of the shutdown.

In early April, DHS began paying all other department employees who had gone unpaid during the shutdown. Mullin then called furloughed staff back to work.

Mullin’s latest comments ratchet up pressure on lawmakers to advance a deal to end the longest government shutdown in history.

Senate Republicans are now moving forward with an uncertain plan to fund ICE and CBP through a party-line reconciliation bill, while funding the rest of DHS through a typical appropriations bill.

However, it’s unclear whether House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will be able to convince all House Republicans to go along with the two-track plan.

Trump also set a date of June 1 to pass ICE and CBP funding, meaning DHS could run out of emergency before lawmakers reach a deal.

In an April 20 letter to House lawmakers, American Federation Government Employees National President Everett Kelley urged them to advance a Senate-passed bill that would fund most of DHS.

“This week the House has the opportunity to demonstrate its bipartisan support of the hardworking professionals of DHS who serve the public with dedication, respect, and excellence, including Transportation Security Officer[s] who ensure our nation’s commercial airlines are the safest in the world,” Kelley wrote. “The last thing Americans need is a return to the traveling disruptions that resulted when TSOs went almost two months without pay.”