Today, Senate democrats blocked passage of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill loaded with amendments meant to block implementation of President Obama’s proposed executive action. These executive actions include expanding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and a new deferred action program for parents of U.S. citizen and lawful permanent resident children (DAPA).

Congress has until the end of February to pass a budget. If not, the DHS will be out of congressional funding. Will this affect the agency? Not much, probably. Most DHS employees will still go to work, and the Department can likely still go forward with Obama’s executive action.

During the October 2013 government shutdown, about 85% of DHS employees continued going to work. Many DHS employees did not receive furloughs (or mandated vacations) because they performed “emergency work involving the safety of human life or the protection of property.” If Congress does not pass a DHS budget before the end of February, these employees would still go to work; they just might not get paid for their work until Congress approves a budget.

Many other employees did not receive furloughs because there wages came from application fees instead of Congressional appropriations. This mainly included employees at United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, which receives and makes decisions on many types of immigration applications, including President Obama’s executive actions.

President Obama’s deferred action programs are fee-driven. These fees pay for employee wages and other agency costs. If Congress does not approve a budget, it likely will not stall the rollout of Obama’s executive action.

Assuming no delay, USCIS will start receiving applications for DAPA in mid- to late-May. That means come May, people like Mindy, a law-abiding mother of 2 young U.S. citizen children who came to the U.S. in 2007 to find a better life, can come out of the shadows to get work permission and temporary protection from deportation.