March 26, 2026
Mr. Bell (for himself and Mr. Stanton) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Energy and Commerce, and Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
Recognizing the critical missions of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and expressing concern that the systematic reduction of its career workforce has undermined those missions and endangered the safety and security of United States citizens.
Whereas FEMA, CISA, and TSA depend on a professional, nonpartisan career workforce to carry out the missions entrusted to them by Congress;
Whereas the career civil servants of FEMA, CISA, and TSA include cybersecurity analysts, disaster response coordinators, transportation security officers, and infrastructure protection specialists, among many others;
Whereas the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the primary Federal entity responsible for supporting disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation on behalf of the American people, and coordination with Federal partners;
Whereas FEMA’s workforce shrank from approximately 25,800 employees in December 2024 to roughly 22,100 in calendar year 2025, a net loss of more than 3,000 positions, through layoffs, buyouts, and attrition;
Whereas more than 1,400 permanent FEMA staff accepted buyout offers from the Department of Government Efficiency across 2 rounds, constituting a substantial share of the agency’s permanent full-time workforce;
Whereas internal planning documents circulated in late 2025 and early 2026 outlined a potential reduction of more than 50 percent of FEMA’s total workforce, over 11,500 positions, including a 41 percent cut to disaster response staff and an 85 percent cut to surge staffing personnel;
Whereas the Government Accountability Office found that FEMA began the 2025 hurricane season with only 12 percent of its incident management workforce available, a 5-year low;
Whereas, as of June 2025, numerous members of FEMA’s Senior Executive Service positions were vacant, and the President has yet to nominate a permanent FEMA Administrator;
Whereas a 2023 Government Accountability Office report found FEMA was already facing a staffing shortfall of more than 6,000 employees, approximately 35 percent below its target level, before the current reductions began;
Whereas the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–295) prohibits the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from making changes that would significantly undermine FEMA’s ability to respond to disasters;
Whereas the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) was established by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–278) as the Federal Government’s lead civilian cybersecurity agency;
Whereas CISA’s workforce has been reduced from more than 3,000 employees at the start of fiscal year 2025 to roughly 2,300 by December 2025, a loss of nearly 1,000 employees, or more than 29 percent of its total workforce;
Whereas the team of CISA cybersecurity advisors, field staff who connect companies and critical infrastructure operators with Federal resources, was reduced from approximately 164 employees to approximately 97;
Whereas CISA’s Election Security Program was completely eliminated, 14 positions and approximately $39,600,000 in annual funding, ahead of the 2026 Federal midterm elections;
Whereas, by the end of May 2025, numerous members of CISA’s leadership have resigned or announced plans to do so;
Whereas the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employs approximately 62,000 transportation security officers responsible for screening passengers, baggage, and cargo at airports across the country;
Whereas, during the 43-day Government shutdown in October and November 2025, more than 900 TSA officers left the agency;
Whereas, since the current partial shutdown of DHS began on February 14, 2026, more than 400 additional TSA officers have resigned, callout rates have exceeded more than 10 percent nationally and reached more than 30 percent at some major airports, and travelers have experienced security wait times exceeding more than 2 hours at airports across the country;
Whereas transportation security officers have had their paychecks held up for nearly half of the past 170 days across multiple shutdowns, despite being classified as essential employees required to report to work;
Whereas the Office of Personnel Management reported approximately 322,000 total separations of Federal employees between January 20, 2025, and November 2025, representing the largest reduction in the Federal civilian workforce since the professionalization of the civil service;
Whereas DHS’s career workforce reductions were carried out without specific congressional authorization and, in many instances, in apparent contravention of appropriations enacted by Congress for fiscal year 2025 that funded the personnel and programs being eliminated; and
Whereas Federal courts have found elements of the administration’s mass workforce reductions to be unlawful, and the Merit Systems Protection Board has granted class certification to a group of former DHS employees challenging their terminations: Now, therefore, be it
Sec.
That the House of Representatives—
(1)
recognizes the critical missions of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and other offices focusing on cybersecurity, disaster preparedness and response, and transportation security;
(2)
affirms that the professional, nonpartisan career workforce of FEMA, CISA, and TSA are essential to carrying out those missions and protecting the safety and security of United States citizens;
(3)
expresses serious concern that the systematic reduction of personnel and resources at FEMA, CISA, and TSA has weakened the Federal Government’s capacity to fulfill its statutory obligations;
(4)
notes that these workforce reductions were carried out without specific authorization from Congress and, in many instances, in contravention of enacted appropriations and in violation of Federal employment law, as found by multiple Federal courts;
(5)
calls on the administration to halt further reductions to FEMA, CISA, and TSA’s career workforce that are not specifically authorized by Congress through the appropriations process;
(6)
calls on the administration to transmit to the appropriate committees of Congress a detailed accounting of all workforce reductions at FEMA, CISA, and TSA since January 20, 2025, disaggregated by component agency, office, and reduction mechanism;
(7)
calls on the administration to immediately submit to the Senate the nomination of a permanent Administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency; and
(8)
reaffirms that the security of the United States depends not only on sufficient funding of FEMA, CISA, and TSA but on the retention and recruitment of the skilled career professionals who carry out its missions every day.