Tom Cole: Shutdown at Department of Homeland Security continues

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Rep. Cole’s Weekly Chat | Week of 3.16.26

Rep. Cole discusses this week in Congress.

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Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma): Weekly Chat | Week of 3.16.26

How Much More Does It Take?

Monday, March 23, 2026

By Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma)

cole.house.gov

As the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security continues, more and more Americans are seeing the negative side effects.

Over one hundred thousand employees are working without pay. TSA lines have reached record numbers with Houston’s Bush Airport at 220 minutes and New Jersey’s Newark Airport at 180 minutes. In fact, CEOs from ten of our nation’s largest airlines have all signed a letter together asking Congress to do the right thing and fund DHS in its entirety. To quote, “Once again, air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown…First, leaders should immediately come together to reach an agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Then they need to act so this problem never happens again.”

However, although TSA is what is most covered by the media, it is not just TSA that is affected by the Schumer Shutdown. Coast Guard service members who conduct lifesaving maritime search and rescue missions which save lives and assist vessels in distress are working without pay. FEMA is shutdown during a time when tornado season is just beginning in Oklahoma. The Secret Service, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, and the Federal Protective Service are all also operating at a reduced capacity – and during a time of turmoil in the Middle East.

But guess who is not working at reduced capacity? Iran. China. Russia. North Korea. And I can assure you they will use our current weaknesses to their advantage.

So, to Senator Chuck Schumer and other Senate Democrats, how much more does it take?

The Republican House has passed the negotiated deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security twice. In fact, we plan to put it back on the Floor again a third time this week, as we know that if there was ever a time we needed to fund DHS, it would be now.

Senate Democrats should follow suit, face reality, admit defeat, and end the shutdown. They are running a risk of an attack. Senator Schumer, it is time to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

Tom Cole, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, is serving his eleventh term in the U.S. Congress as the elected representative of Oklahoma’s 4th Congressional District. He is recognized as an advocate for taxpayers and small business, a proponent for a strong national defense and a leader in promoting biomedical research. He is considered the foremost expert in the U.S. House of Representatives on issues dealing with Native Americans and tribal governments. He is the Chairman, the top Republican leadership position on the committee, of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which he has served on since 2009. He also previously served as the Chairman of the House Rules Committee. Cole and his wife, Ellen, have one son, Mason, and reside in Moore, Oklahoma.