WATCH: TSA and FEMA leaders testify about potential impacts of the government shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — Payments owed to states for disaster relief costs have been held up. Delays in cybersecurity response and training. Agents who check passengers and bags at the country’s airports have missed their salaries, which could lead to unscheduled absences and longer waiting times for travelers.

Watch the session in the video player above.

Those were just some of the potential consequences of an impending funding cut at the Department of Homeland Security, according to officials who testified before a House committee on Wednesday.

Congress has approved full-year funding for the vast majority of the federal government, but only approved a short-term funding correction for the Department of Homeland Security extending through Friday. In response to the killing of US citizens in Minneapolis and other incidents, Democrats insisted that any bill to fund the department come with changes to immigration enforcement operations.

A shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security appeared increasingly likely on Wednesday, for the second day in a row with little progress in negotiations between Democrats and the White House. Democrats are demanding new restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including better identification, the use of warrants and an end to racial profiling, among other demands. They are still waiting to hear from the White House after the initial offer late Monday night from the administration was rejected as “incomplete and inadequate.”

While the two sides remained far apart, Senate Majority Leader John Thune urged Democrats and the White House to reach an agreement.

He added: “I think it is important that the people sitting at the negotiating table make their efforts, sharpen their pencils and reach an agreement.”

At the same time, Republicans stress that closing the Department of Homeland Security will not limit the work of the agencies that Democrats care about most. Trump’s tax cuts and spending bill, passed last year, gave ICE about $75 billion to expand detention capacity and strengthen enforcement operations.

“Removals will continue. The wall will continue,” said Rep. Mark Amodei, Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee.

He added that agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Secret Service, the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency would take the biggest hit. Officials from those agencies appeared before a House subcommittee to explain the potential impact of closing the Department of Homeland Security.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said the tragic loss of two American citizens in Minneapolis — Rene Judd and Alex Peretti — should concern every lawmaker. Strong borders and respect for human life are not competing values, he said.

“When enforcement actions lead to results like these, we have an obligation to ask the hard question and make sure our laws and policies work as intended,” Cuellar said.

“We were almost there. We were there, Democrats, Republicans, everyone, but the second shooting brought different dynamics. I think we can get there to address that,” he said of DHS funding.

Core work continues

About 90% of the department’s employees will continue to work in the event of a closure, but will do so without pay. Vice Adm. Thomas Allan, of the US Coast Guard, said law enforcement and emergency response missions continue during the shutdown, but the potential loss of pay creates significant financial hardships.

“Lockdowns are crippling morale and directly hurting our ability to recruit and retain the talented Americans we need to meet growing demands,” Alan said.

Han Nguyen McNeil of the Transportation Security Administration expressed similar concern. She estimated that about 95% of the agency’s 61,000 workers would continue to work, but would likely go without pay depending on the length of the shutdown. She noted that they had just gone through a long shutdown last fall.

“We heard reports of officers sleeping in their cars at airports to save money on gas, selling their blood and plasma, and taking second jobs to make ends meet,” she said. “…Some are just recovering from the financial impact of the 43-day closure. Many are still suffering from it. We cannot have them go through another experience like this.”

Homeland Security also includes the agency tasked with working to protect the public and private sectors from a wide range of cyber threats. The closure “will weaken our ability to provide timely, actionable guidance to help partners defend their networks,” said Madhu Gutomukkala, acting director of that agency.

“I want to be clear, when the government shuts down, cyber threats don’t,” he said.

Long term effect

The Disaster Relief Fund has sufficient balances to continue emergency response activities during the shutdown, but would be severely strained in the event of a catastrophic disaster, said Greg Phillips, an associate administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). While the agency continues to respond to threats such as flooding and winter storms, long-term planning and coordination with state and local partners is “irreversibly impacted,” he said.

For example, he said the lapse would disrupt first responder training at the National University of Disaster and Emergency Management in Maryland.

“The importance of these exercises cannot be measured,” Phillips said. “Their absence will be felt in our local communities.”

At the Secret Service, “the casual observer wouldn’t see any difference,” said Matthew Quinn, the agency’s deputy director. But he said ongoing reform efforts at the Secret Service have been affected.

“The result will be delayed contracts, reduced hiring, and a halt to new programs,” Quinn said.