Mullin: No more money to pay DHS employees as of May [View all]

Source: Politico

04/21/2026 11:19 AM EDT Updated: 04/21/2026 01:12 PM EDT


Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Tuesday his department will run out of money to pay employees’ salaries the first week of May, as lawmakers race to end a two-month shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

Appearing on “Fox and Friends” Tuesday morning, the secretary outlined that money to pay salaries came from the funds Congress allocated to DHS last year via President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. But DHS has an extensive payroll burden, Mullin said, and if the department isn’t funded, that extra pot of money will dry up early next month.

“My payroll through DHS is just over $1.6 billion every two weeks, so the money is going extremely fast and once that happens, there is no emergency funds after that,” Mullin said. “I’ve got one payroll left and there is no more emergency funds, so the president can’t do another executive order because there’s no more money there.”

The incredibly candid admission about DHS’ financial straits comes as Republicans are trying to put forward a funding package that would fund most of the agencies under the Department of Homeland Security, while punting funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection down the line for a budget reconciliation package.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/21/mullin-no-more-money-to-pay-dhs-employees-as-of-may-00883495