Cole Testifies at Rules Committee on the House Amendment to the Senate Amendment to H.R. 7147

"Chairwoman Foxx, Ranking Member McGovern, members of the Rules Committee, I appreciate the opportunity to testify. I come before you today on the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 7147, the Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026. This is now the fourth time I have appeared before you in recent weeks to discuss funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Let me briefly recap how we got to this point.

"In January, appropriations negotiators, both Republicans and Democrats, from both the House and the Senate, reached a final agreement on our final six appropriations bills for fiscal year 2026. Thanks to our friends on the Rules Committee, we were able to fulfill requests from both House Democrats – who wanted a separate vote on the Homeland Security title – and from the Senate – who wanted us to send over the final six bills as one package. The House did its part, passed these six bills, and sent them to the Senate all as one package.

"Sadly, over the intervening weekend, Senator Schumer and Senate Democrats decided that the deal they had agreed to was no longer good enough. They broke their word and reneged on the deal. While they would pass the other five bills as they had previously accepted, they would now only support a short two-week CR for the Department of Homeland Security.

"Predictably, that two-week CR came and went without Senate Democrats agreeing to a full-year funding bill. So, beginning on Valentine's Day of this year, the Department of Homeland Security entered a lapse in appropriations – or, to use the term that everyone understands: a shutdown.

"This, of course, followed a previous shutdown last fall, again instigated by Senate Democrats. As a consequence, as of tomorrow, the Department of Homeland Security has been shuttered by Senate Democrats for 50% of the fiscal year – leaving DHS personnel and critical missions in limbo, employees have been reporting to work without pay, and causing chaos at the department charged with protecting the homeland.

"Indeed, in the last few weeks, we have witnessed the consequences of this decision. Many employees in mission-critical roles – such as Transportation Security Administration agents, Secret Service agents, and the brave servicemembers of the United States Coast Guard – have continued to work without guaranteed pay, and without full operational resources. Airports across the country are feeling the brunt, with lines stretching outside the airport to clear security. Employees of the TSA are having to take radical action to make ends meet, such as donating plasma, even as they continue to show up to work without pay.

"By today, Senate Democrats will have denied over 80,000 American families more than $1 billion in take-home pay. These are people who are still showing up for their shifts. The numbers are even higher when you include furloughed employees.

"While this state of affairs was acceptable to Senate Democrats, who were reportedly 'very serene' with the shutdown, as one democratic Senator said, it was not acceptable to House Republicans. And so we have now passed through the House the final, negotiated full-year Homeland Security funding bill three different times. And to be clear: what we passed each time is the same funding bill that Senate Democrats agreed to before flip-flopping. The same agreed-upon funding levels, the same agreed-upon policy changes, the needed funding for body cameras for DHS law enforcement, all of it. Every last word was negotiated upon and agreed upon between the parties, before Senator Schumer went back on his word.

"In the middle of the night, with the smell of jet fumes in the air, the Senate passed an amendment to H.R. 7147 and sent it back to the House, once again telling the House to take it or leave it, because the Senate was leaving town. Madam Chair, we often hear from our constituents of how sick they are of bills that are written and passed in the dead of night. And the Senate amendment that was sent to us early this morning is a case in point for why that is so.

"Instead of fulfilling the bicameral and bipartisan bargain that was struck months ago, the Senate amendment instead stripped out all funding for the U.S. Border Patrol and for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, effectively defunding these two agencies. If allowed to become law, this would prevent all Border Patrol non-law enforcement personnel and all ICE non-law enforcement personnel from being paid, and would de-fund day-to-day operations of both agencies.

"Madam Chair, this is completely unacceptable to House Republicans. We cannot and will not support any bill that defunds the defense of our national borders. While it may be news to the Senate to hear this, the Constitution gives both the House of Representatives and the Senate an equal say in this matter – and we will not pass an unacceptable bill simply because the Senate wants to leave town.

"And so, I appear before you today in support of the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 7147, which will provide for a continuing resolution for the Department of Homeland Security through May 22. This will end the pointless shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security. It will provide back pay for employees who have not been paid, will ensure that TSA can return to full operational status at airports, will allow DHS to continue to defend our national borders against narcotraffickers, terrorists, and other evil-doers, and will ensure that the homeland is protected. It doesn't selectively decide which parts of homeland security matter. Rather, it ensures critical missions and personnel are resourced and ready.

"I urge my colleagues, both Republican and Democrat, to do the right thing and support this bill. I thank each of you for your time, and I urge all members to support this bill. I look forward to your questions."