Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. CISCOMANI. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my bill, H.R. 8029, the Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act. The name of the bill itself is pretty self-explanatory.
As the Representative of a district with an international airport, a border with Mexico, many Border Patrol and CBP agents, ICE, HSI, other Homeland Security personnel, and a State that gets struck by devastating wildfires every single year where FEMA is essential, as well as the vice chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, I am proud to lead this legislation to ensure that the men and women who keep our country safe are paid for their service and that we stop putting every single American at risk by funding our agencies responsible for our national security.
It has been said here before that this bill was drafted in a bipartisan basis with both sides having input on it and both sides making compromises to make sure that this bill passed and that we funded our Department of Homeland Security.
What my friends on the other side of the aisle are doing now is backtracking on those agreements that they made. That is unacceptable.
From TSA agents to the countless personnel working behind the scenes to protect our airports and national security, these professionals should never be caught in the middle of political gains, and we are grateful for the work that they are doing day in and day out.
This legislation is about doing what is right: making sure those who show up every day to defend our homeland can count on their paycheck and that the American people know whose side we are on.
Anyone who votes ``no'' and against this bill in just an hour or so should be embarrassed to go past a TSA agent at the airport on the way here or home knowing they just voted to continue their lack of payment.
This legislation ensures full funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Let me emphasize full funding. No area in Homeland Security should not be funded, including TSA, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol, U.S. Secret Service, FEMA, and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Shutting down DHS over a fight of funding is wrong. Our DHS bill is just about $97 billion. The ICE portion of this is roughly 10 percent, so my colleagues on the other side are shutting down the entire Department over a dispute of about 10 percent of the funding of this bill.
Make no mistake: This is a Democrat shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
Give me all or you get nothing. Give me what I want or you get nothing. That is their posture. It is not complicated, Madam Speaker.
Today, we will see who votes to open it and who votes to close it. They can gaslight all they want, but the reality is that when they vote ``no,'' they will be voting to not pay our personnel.
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Mr. CISCOMANI. For 41 days now, the ongoing DHS shutdown has disrupted critical operations, impacted the livelihoods of dedicated personnel, and weakened key components of our national security.
This bill is a necessary step to restore stability, support our workforce, and ensure the safety of the American people.
As of today, DHS employees have missed a full paycheck, and 400 TSA agents have flatout quit. You can't blame them for that. Due to staff shortages, security lines are longer, impacting travelers across the country.
I have never supported a Government shutdown of any kind, partial or full. The current Department of Homeland Security shutdown has been in effect since February 14, 2026, making it the longest partial shutdown in history, followed previously by the longest full shutdown in U.S. history, both caused by Democrats.
Without immediate funding to DHS, these challenges will continue to escalate, further straining our workforce and jeopardizing our national security.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to put hardworking Americans first by supporting my Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act.
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