The time to govern is now 

In 2013, I arrived in Washington, D.C. like many first-term members, with a mission to serve my constituents, uphold American values, and make a positive impact on northeast Ohio and our nation. 

When the Steering Committee selected me to serve on the House Appropriations Committee, I was ecstatic. While I knew it was considered a top-tier committee, as a freshman member of Congress, I did not yet grasp the full extent of the power of the purse. 

After participating in an Appropriations 101 course that January, my 10+ year journey on the committee began. From serving as ranking member of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee for four years to now serving as chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee, I have come to fully understand the unwavering importance of being a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars and what it takes to accomplish that mission in practice. 

Last year, I was also elected by my colleagues to serve as chairman of the Republican Governance Group (RG2), a group comprised of pragmatic House Republican lawmakers from all corners of the country who are committed to productive and effective governance. 

From day one as chairman in both capacities this Congress, I made sure to prioritize member involvement and priorities. One of the top priorities for our conference is border security. House Republicans from RG2 to the House Freedom Caucus ran on a commitment to secure the border and hold this administration accountable. 

To fulfill these promises, funding must be secured through the appropriations process, and making meaningful improvements to our border security comes with significant costs. I knew crafting the Homeland Security appropriations bill would take months of engagement, outreach and negotiation with members and leadership, and it did. 

Even though conversations about spending levels and specific priorities began almost immediately, the congressional process really kicks off when the president releases his budget proposal for the coming year. President Biden released his FY24 budget on March 9 and throughout the following months, I convened meetings with members of the subcommittee, chaired hearings with the leadership of major Department of Homeland Security agencies, visited the border to view the crisis firsthand, and worked diligently to craft a final bill that both reflects our conference’s priorities and makes the investments necessary to keep America safe. 

In May, the subcommittee passed the first draft bill with every single Republican voting in favor. A few weeks later, the final bill passed the full House Appropriations Committee without losing a single Republican vote. The Republicans who voted in favor of this bill came from all factions of the conference including members of the House Freedom Caucus, members representing southern border districts, and members in districts won by President Biden. 

Eight months later, we have 37 days left until government funding runs out. As it stands, the final version of the Homeland Security appropriations bill provides critical funding for key conference priorities that were also included in H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, which Republicans passed in the House earlier this year. The appropriations bill includes funding for 22,000 Border Patrol Agents, the highest level ever funded and the same number that was authorized in H.R. 2. It also forces the administration to restart border wall construction to address the crisis at our southern border, prevents the CBPOne App from being used to process migrants into the country, invests in new border security technology, and increases detention capacity to deter illegal immigration by funding a record number of detention beds.  

The bill also ties this administration’s hands by restricting the use of funds only to specific border security imperatives while prohibiting funds from being used to continue implementation of the White House’s failed policies. 

Not only does this bill contain funding to secure our border, but it does so in a fiscally responsible way that House Republicans have consistently championed in our approach to government spending. In fact, it cuts more than $3 billion in wasteful spending in FY23 enacted level bill by eliminating programs that impede immigration enforcement, and instead redirects that funding to tried and true methods of securing the border. For example, we cut $1.9 billion in “border management” funding that simply allowed the department to process more people into the country and eliminated over $800 million for grant programs that have served to incentivize and facilitate illegal migration. We also reined in bloated bureaucracy at the department, cutting the budget for the Office of the Secretary by 30 percent and eliminating funding for projects that do not advance our homeland security interests. 

If the government shuts down, our agents securing the southern border and our officers securing the skies will be forced to work without pay. The administration’s policies have already led to historically low morale among our frontline personnel; a shutdown will only exacerbate the problem. Procurement processes for deploying advanced technologies to defend our country from adversaries will be halted. Resources will be strained, operations will be interrupted, and the homeland will become more vulnerable to physical and cyber attacks.  

To the members of our Republican Conference, if we allow a government shutdown, we are putting Americans at risk and failing to keep a promise we made to our constituents less than a year ago. I encourage all of us to come to the table so we can govern responsibly and deliver results. My door is always open. Talk is cheap, it takes serious time and investment to fulfill our security promises. 

Dave Joyce is chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee and chairman of the Republican Governance Group.