WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of Homeland Security entered the 68th day of a partial government shutdown reporting resource shortages and operational strains across its agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Secret Service. A DHS spokesperson said the department is "being stretched to the breaking point," with basic vendors—from cybersecurity firms to toilet paper suppliers—gambling on whether they will ever be paid.

Inside the 260,000-employee department, Adobe software and other subscriptions have lapsed, forcing employees to use workarounds. Some offices have run out of paper clips, reuse printer paper by printing on the blank side of old documents, and staff have been roaming hallways in search of toner cartridges and ink. Staples have become scarce, and the Office of Public Affairs is using only three-hole punched paper because it is the only stock left in supply closets.

Government travel credit cards cannot be processed during the funding lapse, and many accounts are more than 60 days past due. Frontline TSA officers collectively rack up more than $5 million per month in travel-related charges to keep airports secure, and some Secret Service agents have paid out-of-pocket for protective mission travel and gone unreimbursed for two months.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the money used to cover the $1.6 billion in DHS employee payroll twice a month will dry up during the first week of May. A late-March presidential directive ensures DHS employees, including TSA officers, receive backpay, and absenteeism among frontline TSA employees has been reduced by 45% since the directive. More than 780 TSA officers have resigned during the current shutdown, out of a workforce of just under 50,000.

Officials said without appropriations, TSA cannot invest in next-generation screening technology, raising readiness concerns for the 2026 summer travel season, the FIFA World Cup and the nation's 250th anniversary. Each week, approximately 45,000 emergency personnel miss training because classes at the National Fire Academy and the Center for Domestic Preparedness have been indefinitely postponed. FEMA has been absent from the National Hurricane Conference and the National Emergency Management Association Midyear Forum ahead of hurricane season, and the National Flood Insurance Program is operating under severe limitations, delaying policy renewals and disrupting real estate markets in flood-prone regions, officials say.

FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund has roughly $3.4 billion remaining, just above the $3 billion threshold that triggers Immediate Needs Funding, which restricts spending to lifesaving operations and halts broader recovery and mitigation efforts. Hazard mitigation projects, long-term rebuilding and large swaths of public assistance funding would slow or stop under that status. Billions in outstanding reimbursements, including COVID-era assistance owed to hospitals, remain unpaid to avoid draining the fund too quickly. FEMA has entered Immediate Needs Funding roughly 10 times since 2001 but has never done so during a lapse in appropriations, officials say.