Government & Emergency Management

If Congress doesn't act before February 27th, the Department of Homeland Security is going to run out of money and go into a partial shutdown. (85 percent of employees would still be working, but they wouldn't be getting paid.)

The Department of Homeland Security would have to furlough about 30,000 employees if Congress does not pass a funding bill for the agency by the end of February, according to the agency. While 85 percent of DHS employees would still report to work, the bulk of DHS management and administrative staff activities would cease, including a lot of the infrastructure built after the Sept.

If all politics is truly local, the big sleeper in Washington’s fight over the Homeland Security budget could be the city and county agencies that depend on the same bill to help finance their emergency response teams. Congress is most focused now on the threat of a shutdown next week if lawmakers cannot reach an agreement before DHS’s...

Quin Lucie authored this post. Mr. Lucie is an attorney with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and received his masters degree in Homeland Security Studies from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School.

I don't begrudge Texas billions of dollars in disaster relief. But the flow of federal money poses a bit of awkwardness for the Lone Star State. After all, just over a month ago hundreds of Texans decided that a pending Navy Seal/Green Beret joint training exercise was really an excuse to take over the state and impose martial law.