Homeland Security

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security is a specialized panel within the House Committee on Appropriations responsible for drafting and reviewing the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security. As a subcommittee, it conducts initial hearings, gathers testimony from agency officials, and prepares legislation before sending it to the full committee for final approval and floor consideration. This structure allows Congress to divide its appropriations work into manageable pieces, with each subcommittee becoming expert in its narrow slice of federal spending.

The subcommittee has jurisdiction over funding for multiple DHS agencies and programs, including Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Secret Service, and numerous other homeland security components. The fiscal year 2026 bill provided $66.3 billion in funding, with $26.5 billion allocated for disaster response and recovery activities.

The subcommittee is chaired by Republican Mark Amodei of Nevada, with Democrat Henry Cuellar of Texas serving as Ranking Member. The panel includes 11 total members split between the two parties. Recent activity has centered on appropriations hearings and markups, including a February 2026 hearing examining the potential impacts of a Department of Homeland Security shutdown on agency operations, personnel, and national security missions.