HR 8029: Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act

HR 8029 in plain English: This bill provides full-year FY2026 appropriations to the Department of Homeland Security, ending a partial DHS shutdown that began on February 14, 2026. It funds DHS agencies including Customs and Border Protection, ICE, TSA, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, FEMA, and others, and authorizes back pay for federal employees affected by the shutdown.

Stated purpose

This bill provides full-year funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the remainder of fiscal year 2026 and ends a partial DHS shutdown that began on February 14, 2026, when a prior temporary funding measure expired without a replacement being enacted.

Key points

• Ends the partial DHS shutdown that began February 14, 2026, and restores funding for the rest of FY2026
• Provides $17,727,974,000 for U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations and support
• Provides $10,635,434,000 for the Transportation Security Administration and $11,272,401,000 for the U.S. Coast Guard
• Provides $10,036,362,000 for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, construction, and improvements
• Authorizes back pay for federal DHS employees affected by the partial government shutdown

Arguments supporters make

• Keeping DHS funded ensures that border security, emergency response, and transportation safety operations continue without dangerous gaps or disruptions.
• Federal employees who worked through the shutdown without pay deserve to be made whole quickly, and this bill provides that back pay as required.
• Passing a full-year funding bill gives DHS agencies budget certainty to plan operations rather than lurching from one short-term patch to the next.

Arguments opponents make

• Passing emergency funding bills after a shutdown has already started rewards Congress for failing to do its basic budgeting work on time, with little accountability for the lapse.
• Critics may argue that the bill funds agencies such as ICE and CBP at levels they consider too high, or conversely too low, depending on their views on immigration enforcement priorities.
• Rushing a large appropriations bill through to end a crisis can reduce careful oversight of how the money is allocated, leaving questionable spending choices unchallenged.

Tradeoffs

Restoring DHS funding quickly protects national security operations and compensates workers, but doing so through a crisis-driven bill rather than a timely regular appropriations process may reduce congressional scrutiny of individual spending decisions and reduce pressure on Congress to avoid future shutdowns.

Current status in Congress: Passed House.

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