House lawmakers left with lingering questions about proposed budget cuts at the Department of Homeland Security after a Tuesday oversight hearing with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

The hearing, before the House Appropriations Committee’s homeland security subcommittee, was held days after the Trump administration released its proposed fiscal 2026 “skinny budget.”

The request would increase overall DHS funding — largely at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol — it would also cut budgets at several component agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration.

The request would cut CISA funding by $491 million, roughly 20% of the agency’s current budget.

During Tuesday’s hearing, subcommittee Ranking Member Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) pressed Noem on the Trump administration’s “cyber plan” given the proposed CISA cuts.

“It will be coming out shortly, and that is the president’s prerogative,” Noem said. “I have been advising him on what that will look like.”

The skinny budget document provides brief descriptions of proposed spending changes. The section on CISA says the Trump administration would eliminate “duplicative” programs and “so-called misinformation and propaganda as well as external engagement offices, such as international affairs.”

House Appropriations homeland security subcommittee Chairman Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) said lawmakers will need more details on the proposed cuts.

“When somebody goes, ‘Hey, you guys presided over cutting a half a billion dollars in CISA to do other stuff. What was that based on?’ Clearly, we don’t want to be in the position, and won’t be in the position of, ‘Well, I don’t know. That’s what they said they needed,’” Amodei said at the close of the hearing. “We need some building blocks.”

TSA workforce cuts

Amodei also pointed to proposed cuts at TSA. The Trump administration’s skinny budget would reduce funding for TSA screening operations by $247 million by cutting the number of transportation security officers.

Noem attributed the proposed TSA reductions to eliminating unfilled positions.

“All we’re doing there in the reductions is reducing empty [full-time equivalents] that were never filled or don’t have TSOs in them now and asking for TSA officials to do work that that they were intended to do, not to do unskilled technical work by monitoring exit lanes,” Noem said.

For years, TSA has proposed eliminating the need for its officers to staff airport exist lanes. Last year, the Biden administration estimated it would save TSA $111 million annually.

But the plan has previously drawn stiff opposition from airports, which would need to handle the exit lane staffing themselves.

Amodei said he is also interested in the Trump administration’s plan for upgrading TSA screening technology.

“Just the same as on the border, what are you doing to upgrade that technology?” he said.

FEMA grant spending

The administration’s skinny budget proposes slashing non-discretionary FEMA grants by $646 million. Last month, DHS ended the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program and canceled all BRIC applications. A FEMA spokesperson called the program “wasteful and ineffective.”

But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pushed back against canceling the BRIC programs. During the hearing today, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said, “BRIC grants have provided many communities with the means to mitigate the next disaster before it strikes, potentially saving taxpayers even more money.”

The debate around FEMA grant funding comes as the Trump administration considers broader changes to the emergency management agency. President Donald Trump has established a FEMA Review Council, c0-led by Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, to recommend reforms.

“President Trump has been very clear since the beginning that he believes that FEMA and its response in many, many circumstances has failed the American people, and that FEMA as it exists today should be eliminated in empowering states to respond to disasters with the federal government in support,” Noem said.

But with large swaths of staff at FEMA already reportedly departing the agency, lawmakers are pressing Noem for additional details on the rationale behind the cuts.

“Several people have talked about the BRIC program in FEMA,” Amodei said. “And what I think is missing in the evaluation is — your initial reaction is, ‘OK, so a bunch of stuff got canceled.’ And so it’s like, ‘OK, why?’”

“Going forward, we expect to receive routine briefings and reports from DHS on time and any changes and programs and policy,” Amodei said in closing the hearing. “It is your absolute prerogative to make changes. Please tell us.”

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