Leaders from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the U.S. Secret Service warned representatives Wednesday that a lapse in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding would cause long-term disruptions to planned technology upgrades and delays in cybersecurity incident reporting.
During a House Homeland Security panel hearing, CISA Acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala and Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn told legislators that without action before DHS’s funding runs out on Feb. 13, the department’s non-immigration-related components would also face disruption.
“A lapse in funding would impede CISA’s ability to continue the good work. At CISA, a shutdown would degrade our capacity to provide timely and actionable guidance to help partners defend their networks,” Gottumukkala said in opening remarks.
He added that more than a third of CISA’s employees would be required to continue working without pay “even when nation-state actors intensify efforts to exploit the systems that Americans rely on.”
Gottumukkala also pointed to delays in CISA’s pending cyber incident reporting rule. That requirement comes from the 2022 Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act, which tells CISA to set deadlines and rules for critical infrastructure companies to report major cyber incidents to the federal government.
The final rule was expected in October 2025, but an entry from the Office of Management and Budget shows that date was pushed back until May 2026.
“The adverse effects of a shutdown are not just felt by our agency alone, but extend to the communities we serve,” Gottumukkala told Congress.
At the Secret Service, Quinn said that while the agency is “on the cusp of implementing generational change for our organization,” a “shutdown halts our reforms and undermines the momentum that we, including all of you, have worked so hard to build together.”
Those efforts include upgrades to the agency’s communications and IT infrastructure, and “overarching technological improvements” that Quinn said were brought to the agency’s attention after the 2024 assassination attempt against then-candidate Donald Trump.
“The impacts may not be seen tomorrow, but I assure you, we will feel the ripple effects for some time, delayed contracts, diminished hiring, [and] halted new programs will be the result,” Quinn said.
While all other federal agencies and departments received funding through the end of fiscal year 2026 last week, Democrats and Republicans agreed on a two-week funding agreement for DHS while parties remain divided over whether a DHS funding bill should include new policies to govern federal immigration enforcement operations.
According to Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., the DHS continuing resolution is likely to run out before Congress can agree on a funding bill due to missed key deadlines.
“At this point, finalizing the bill before the 13th seems like a very tall order; a shutdown has gone from a distinct possibility to a probability,” Amodei said during his opening remarks.
House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., introduced a bill on Wednesday to fund every DHS component except for those related to immigration enforcement and the Office of the Secretary. However, that bill seemed to have limited support during Wednesday’s hearing.