The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

The Department of Homeland Security has now been in a shutdown for more than two months. DHS officials are warning Congress about growing backlog of contracts, cancelled planning activities, and more impacts as the shutdown drags on. For the latest, Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday joins me.
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The Forest Service is defending its plan to relocate its headquarters out West and shutter most of its research facilities, as part of a major agency reorganization. The agency is looking to move its headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah and close all of its regional offices. The agency is making its case to Congress, but says it will proceed with these plans with or without approval from lawmakers. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman has more.
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DHS remains the only federal agency operating without a finalized 2026 appropriations bill, leaving Congress to rely on an unusually intricate reconciliation process to reach an outcome. All of this is happening as lawmakers begin shaping 2027 spending plans, layering urgency onto an already stalled debate. We’ll walk through the implications with Capitol Hill Correspondent for WTOP, Mitchell Miller.
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Behind the scenes on Capitol Hill, concerns about personal safety, logistics and family well‑being shape how members and staff experience the job day to day. We’ll take a practical look at how those very human factors affect focus, capacity, and the ability to do sustained legislative work. Danielle Stewart from the POPVOX Foundation joins me.
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Running for federal office now comes with security costs that were once rare and those costs are rising fast. A new analysis looks at how the growing need for personal and digital security is changing who can realistically run for office, and how campaigns operate behind the scenes. We’ll talk through what that shift means for access, participation, and the health of democratic institutions, with Justin Sherman of the Public Service Alliance.
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