To provide funding for administrative expenses of the Department of Homeland Security during any lapse in appropriations during fiscal year 2026, to require that the Department be responsive to congressional offices during such a lapse in appropriations, and for other purposes.
Summary
What This Bill Does
H.R. 7617 creates an automatic appropriation whenever appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security lapse. For the duration of the lapse, DHS receives whatever amounts are necessary for administrative expenses needed to operate the Department. The text specifically includes the DHS Office of Legislative Affairs and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Congressional Relations, but the appropriation is not limited to those offices.
For a lapse occurring during fiscal year 2026, the Homeland Security Secretary must use the automatic funding to ensure that DHS performs every function it would perform if appropriations had not lapsed. That includes responding to communications sent by congressional offices, preserving constituent-casework and oversight channels.
The appropriation language is framed for any DHS lapse, while the express full-function mandate is limited to a lapse occurring during fiscal 2026. The bill does not set a dollar cap, replace regular appropriations when no lapse exists, fund other departments, or waive substantive limits on DHS authorities. "Amounts as may be necessary" leaves the final cost dependent on the duration and operating needs of a shutdown.
Who Benefits and How
DHS employees and component offices gain funding continuity instead of shutdown-driven furloughs or unpaid work. Congressional offices retain access to DHS responses for immigration, travel, disaster, security, and other casework. Members of the public awaiting DHS decisions may avoid shutdown delays. ICE congressional-relations staff and DHS legislative-affairs staff receive explicit operating support.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Federal accounts must finance open-ended administrative expenses during a lapse. DHS finance staff must identify covered costs and operate the automatic funding mechanism. Congressional appropriators lose some shutdown leverage over DHS operations, and budget scorekeepers must estimate an amount with no fixed ceiling. Other unfunded agencies receive no comparable protection, potentially changing the relative pressure during a broader shutdown.
Key Provisions
- Appropriates necessary DHS administrative expenses during a funding lapse.
- Extends automatic funding for the duration of the lapse.
- Includes DHS legislative-affairs operations.
- Includes ICE congressional-relations operations.
- Requires all ordinary DHS functions during a fiscal-2026 lapse.
- Requires responses to communications from congressional offices.
- Limits the full-function mandate to fiscal year 2026.
- Provides no fixed dollar cap on necessary administrative expenses.
- Preserves substantive limits on DHS program authority.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Provides an automatic appropriation for Department of Homeland Security administrative operations during a funding lapse and requires DHS during any fiscal-2026 lapse to perform all normal functions, including congressional correspondence through its legislative-affairs offices.
Key Policy Areas
Government Shutdowns, Homeland Security Operations, Automatic Appropriations, Congressional Casework, DHS Administrative Funding
Primary Purpose
Provides an automatic appropriation for Department of Homeland Security administrative operations during a funding lapse and requires DHS during any fiscal-2026 lapse to perform all normal functions, including congressional correspondence through its legislative-affairs offices.
Policy Domains
Section 1 automatic DHS lapse funding and fiscal-2026 operations
Identified Gains
- DHS employees maintaining operations
- DHS component offices avoiding shutdown closures
- Congressional offices awaiting agency responses
- Constituents pursuing DHS casework
- ICE congressional-relations staff
- DHS legislative-affairs staff
- Travelers awaiting DHS services
Identified Costs
- Federal accounts financing lapse operations
- DHS finance staff administering automatic funds
- Congressional appropriators losing shutdown leverage
- Budget scorekeepers estimating uncapped costs
- DHS managers documenting necessary expenses
- Other agencies lacking automatic lapse funding
Sponsors
Julie Johnson
D-TX | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Appropriations.
Introduced in House
Ms. Johnson of Texas introduced the following bill; which was …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Congressional appropriators, Congressional offices awaiting DHS responses, DHS component offices
Positive-direction: Congressional offices awaiting DHS responses, DHS component offices, DHS employees maintaining operations, DHS legislative-affairs staff, ICE congressional-relations staff
Negative-direction: Congressional appropriators, DHS expense-certification managers, DHS finance staff, Federal budget scorekeepers, Federal lapse-funding accounts
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "beneficiary"
- → Person awaiting a DHS service during a funding lapse
- "administrator"
- → Secretary of Homeland Security
- "correspondent"
- → Congressional office requesting a DHS response
- "funded_office"
- → DHS Office of Legislative Affairs
- "component_office"
- → ICE Office of Congressional Relations
Note: {'scope_ids': ['dhs_lapse_operations'], 'description': 'The automatic administrative appropriation applies during a DHS lapse, but the explicit requirement to perform every normal function is tied to fiscal year 2026; the bill supplies no dollar cap and does not fund other departments or expand substantive DHS powers.'}
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The period for which DHS appropriations are unavailable and the automatic administrative appropriation remains operative.
The functions DHS would perform if no lapse existed, expressly including responses to congressional offices during fiscal year 2026.
An uncapped appropriation of amounts needed for DHS administrative operations during a lapse in the Department's regular appropriations.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology