Cybersecurity Policy Report, CISA Prepares for Shutdown After Congress Fails to Pass Funding Bill, (Feb 13, 2026)
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency was set to shut down its nonessential functions tonight at midnight after Congress failed to reach consensus on appropriations legislation that would have kept the agency open.
The Senate adjourned yesterday after rejecting a motion to consider HR 7147, the current legislative vehicle for Department of Homeland Security appropriations. The motion, which required 60 votes, failed by a vote of 52-47. The Senate will remain out of session until Feb. 23, according to a schedule posted by Senate Democrats.
The House passed HR 7147 last month by a vote of 220-207. Both chambers also passed a stopgap spending bill that expires tonight (CPR, Feb. 2).
Congress was set to approve DHS appropriations along with other federal departments last month. But DHS’s immigration enforcement tactics, including the shooting deaths of two people in Minneapolis, led Democrats to demand changes in the spending bill and resulted in the current impasse.
CISA plans to furlough 1,453 personnel, leaving 888 to perform functions “essential to protecting life and property,” Madhu Gottumukkala, the agency’s acting director, told House appropriators this week (CPR, Feb. 11).
“A shutdown forces many of our frontline security experts and threat hunters to work without pay—even as nation-states and criminal organizations intensify efforts to exploit critical systems that Americans rely on—placing an unprecedented strain on our national defenses,” Mr. Gottumukkala said in written testimony submitted for a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security subcommittee.
“Under the current DHS Lapse Plan, CISA can only sustain essential functions that are necessary to ensure the safety of human life or protection of property. Limited activities include responding to imminent threats, sharing timely vulnerability and incident information, maintaining our 24/7 operations center, and operating cybersecurity shared services,” he said.
“However, CISA would not perform any strategic planning, development of cybersecurity advice and guidance, or development of new technical capabilities,” he added. “Should a DHS shutdown be ongoing, operations would become strained and service delivery delayed in core mission areas such as cyber response, security assessments, stakeholder engagements, training, exercises, and special event planning.”
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