CISA contingency operations: Salary payments for past six weeks promised

In mid-February, funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and thus the IT security authority CISA expired in the USA. It has been operating in contingency operations with limited resources ever since.

As CBS News now reports, all DHS employees are to receive their salaries for the past six weeks of the shutdown by the end of this week. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced this on Tuesday this week. He said that most of these checks should have arrived at the banks by Friday. Some financial institutions would have to wait until Monday, but the majority of all should have been paid by then.

The payments are said to have been made possible through flexibility in the use of funds and executive measures. However, Mullin also warned that future payments for DHS employees – with the exception of law enforcement officers – would depend entirely on the US Congress. According to CBS News, Mullin sharply criticized the Democrats for the delays. He accused them of being willing to cut off funding for 22 agencies tasked with ensuring internal security, from the Pentagon to the DHS.

Praise for Employees

At the same time, he praised the employees of the agencies who continued to show up for work despite uncertainties regarding salary payments. He called it an incredible commitment. When asked how the funds were made available, Mullin referred to emergency powers that allow the president to reallocate funds to a limited extent.

The government shutdown is the result of a dispute between Republicans and Democrats over the conduct of officials from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) police and customs authority. As a result, they could not agree on the conditions for further funding of the DHS.

(dmk)