Funding for the department's USD 40 billion budget ends on Friday, and no solution is in sight for Congress to take action by then. The fight is over President Barack Obama's immigration plan.
A House-passed bill would fund the department through Sept 30 and overturn Obama's move to limit deportations for millions of immigrants in the United States illegally. But the Senate is stalemated.
He said that up to 30,000 DHS workers would have to be furloughed, including up to 80 per cent of Federal Emergency Management Agency workers even as that agency contends with two months of devastating snowfalls and cold from New England in the northeast to the Mountain States in the west.
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"It's absurd that we're even having this conversation about Congress' inability to fund Homeland Security in these challenging times," Johnson said.
After a week's break, Congress returns to work tomorrow. Lawmakers have until the end of the week to approve the DHS budget and avoid shutting down the department.
A House-passed bill would cover the department through Sept 30 and overturn Obama's executive action to limit deportations for millions of immigrants in the United States illegally. But Senate Democrats are preventing a vote on a similar, Senate measure.