A growing number of federal agencies and staff are explicitly blaming Democrats for the current government shutdown. The political messaging by the agencies may be a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity.
Furloughed federal employees at some agencies have been instructed to set out-of-office messages explaining that they are not working because Democrats caused a shutdown. Government agency websites also have displayed messages informing site visitors the websites are temporarily on hold due to the “Democrat-led” shutdown.
Other agency websites have used more combative language.
“The radical left has chosen to shut down the United States government in the name of reckless spending and obstructionism,” the treasury department’s website reads.
Similarly, the US Department of Agriculture’s website says that their site will not be updated “due to the Radical Left Democrat shutdown”.
According to Department of Education (DoE) sources, DoE officials changed the language in employees’ automated out-of-office replies to include rhetoric blaming the shutdown on Democrats.
“This message is uniform and provided to us by the Department. We all enabled the auto-reply before logging off for the shutdown,” a DoE employee said, requesting anonymity for fear of retaliation. “However, the Department has gone in without our knowledge or approval and changed the message.”
NBC News previously reported on the changes to the DoE employees’ automated email messages.
The government shut down on Wednesday at midnight, after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement before the Tuesday night deadline. As the Guardian’s Chris Stein explained, Democrats are demanding a series of concessions related to healthcare, funding for public media and foreign aid. As a result of the shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been furloughed and agencies have shut down key functions.
By reviewing agency websites and news reports, the Guardian has tracked a number of federal government agencies promoting language that blames Democrats for the shutdown. They include:
The Department of Justice
The Department of State
The Department of the Treasury
The Department of Agriculture
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (Hud)
The Department of Education
The Department of Heath and Human Services
The Department of Commerce
The Department of Labor
The Small Business Administration (SBA)
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Some explicit political activity by federal employees is prohibited by the Hatch Act, a 1939 law seeking to prevent political influence on the agencies.
The use of government websites and employees’ out-of-office messages to blame Democrats for the shutdown is “extraordinarily irresponsible and inappropriate”, said Donald Sherman, executive director and chief counsel of the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or Crew.
“This is clearly behavior that does not comport with ethical guidance,” he said. “Some of it, I think, is illegal. Some of it is not illegal, depending on the law that you’re talking about, but it’s extraordinarily irresponsible and inappropriate.”
Sherman said it was possibly “the worst time to be engaged in this kind of partisan chicanery” because many Americans are relying on government websites for information on essential services disrupted by the shutdown.
“It’s part of a pattern and practice of politicizing and weaponizing the government in ways that we have not seen before,” he continued, adding: “It’s astonishing, which is saying something for this administration.”
Already, Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization, has filed a complaint against the SBA for the message on its webpage blaming Democrats for the shutdown. The organization says it is a violation of the Hatch Act.
“The SBA and other agencies increasingly adopting this illegal, partisan tactic think they can get away with it because Trump has gutted any and all ethics oversight of the federal government,” said Craig Holman, a government ethics expert with Public Citizen.
The independent office of special counsel enforces Hatch Act violations. The penalties can include removal from federal service for up to five years, and civil fines up to $1,000. The office is currently closed because of the funding lapse, and Trump fired the head of the office earlier this year and installed Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, in the role.
NBC News reported that the Department of Labor sent a message to employees on Wednesday morning, suggesting their out-of-office email messages include language blaming “Democrat Senators” for the shutdown. HuffPost similarly reported workers at the Department of Health and Human Services were instructed to to the same.
The Trump administration on Thursday morning threatened to fire many employees at federal agencies across the nation, leading to worry and fear among furloughed employees for their job security.
DoE sources said some workers printed out their furlough notices and last few pay stubs, in case they have to file for unemployment in response to Trump administration threats of firings during the shutdown.
Sherman noted that it’s Congress’s responsibility to perform oversight of the executive branch but said there also could be investigations by inspectors general or the government accountability office (GAO). In this case, he said, accountability would not come in the form of firing the officials ordering the partisan messaging.
“That power exists solely within the executive branch and clearly they’re the ones doing this. Nobody is acting out of school0. They are acting consistent with the administration’s edict,” Sherman said.
House speaker Mike Johnson said on Thursday morning that lawmakers are still far from reaching a deal on government funding, placing blame on Democrats.
Despite the government shutdown, the Trump administration is taking advantage of it to pursue its policy goals. As the Guardian previously reported, the US energy department will be slashing nearly $8bn in climate-related funding for projects in 16 US states and freezing $18bn for two New York City construction projects.
Trump said on Thursday he would be meeting with Russell Vought, the head of the office of management and budget, to discuss further cuts to agencies that do not align with his political priorities.
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Vought was a significant player in pushing forward Project 2025, which seeks to radically reshape the federal government.
“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump added.
Michael Sainato and Lauren Gambino contributed reporting
