Border Patrol union warns shutdown would jeopardize operations
The National Border Patrol Council, representing about 18,000 CBP agents, urged Senate Democrats to pass the House‑approved continuing resolution to avoid a partial government shutdown before midnight Wednesday. Union president Paul Perez warned that a lapse would cut mission‑critical funding for patrol vehicles, roads, radios, infrastructure and agent pay; lawmakers are negotiating over healthcare and ACA subsidy provisions while the CR would fund government through Nov. 21 and includes roughly $88 million for enhanced security.
Politics
Public Safety
🔍 Key Facts
- Union: National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) represents roughly 18,000 Border Patrol/CBP agents.
- Timing: Funding deadline described as 'midnight Wednesday'; Senate expected to vote late Tuesday afternoon on a CR extending funding through Nov. 21.
- Impact: NBPC warns a shutdown would disrupt funding for patrol vehicles, roads, radios, infrastructure and agent pay; the House CR would also include about $88 million for enhanced security for lawmakers, the White House and the judiciary.
📍 Contextual Background
- Department of Defense contingency guidance listed priority missions during a shutdown in the following order: operations to secure the U.S. Southern Border; Middle East operations; the U.S. missile defense project Golden Dome for America; depot maintenance; shipbuilding; and critical munitions.
- During a U.S. federal government shutdown, active-duty military personnel and deployed National Guard members must continue to perform their assigned duties but their pay is delayed until the shutdown ends.
- Civilian personnel whose work the Department of Defense designates as 'excepted' continue to work during a government shutdown, while other Department of Defense civilian employees are furloughed.
- The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 provides that government employees automatically receive back pay after a government shutdown.
- Republicans and Democrats were engaged in negotiations over government funding ahead of an upcoming funding deadline described as occurring on a Tuesday.
- The Social Security Administration's contingency plans provide that in the event of a lapse in appropriations the agency will follow those plans and beneficiaries would continue receiving Social Security, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments.
- Social Security benefits are funded through mandatory spending, meaning the program's funding is provided without an annual expiration and does not require yearly appropriations to continue benefit payments.