Several federal agencies used their official websites and social media for political attacks after the government shutdown began on Wednesday, declaring that Democrats were to blame for the disruption of services, thrusting the normally nonpartisan government bureaucracy into the funding fight.
Echoing Republican talking points, several major departments, including the Treasury, Health, State and Agriculture departments, placed large banner messages on their websites and on social media accounts claiming that the shutdown was caused by Democrats or the “radical left.” Several banner messages also insisted that “President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.”
Trump administration officials have also directed employees at the Department of Labor — including those deemed essential and are working through the shutdown — to include a partisan message in their out-of-office email replies blaming Democratic senators for the shutdown. The White House budget office offered template language to Labor Department employees that uses a pejorative shortening of “Democratic Party” common among Republicans, attacking “Democrat Senators” over the shutdown.
The messages amounted to a remarkable breach for federal agencies and their typically nonpartisan work force, which normally do not get involved in politics. The Trump administration’s effort to wield government platforms to attack Democrats could also violate the Hatch Act, a law designed to ensure that the federal work force operates free of political influence or coercion, federal employment experts say. The Trump administration has recently moved to weaken enforcement of the law.
Departments used different messages, casting more or less blame on Democrats. But the messaging varied even within individual agencies.
The shutdown notice posted to the Defense Department website had no reference to Democrats as of Wednesday afternoon, simply saying that troops would go without pay until funding was “passed by Congress and signed into law.” But some officials at the department blamed Senator Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, for the shutdown on social media — echoing earlier comments from Vice President JD Vance — and said that troops won’t get paid because of the Democrats.
Public interest and ethics groups quickly filed complaints about the website notices, accusing the administration of violating the Hatch Act. Public Citizen, a government watchdog group, brought a complaint against Kelly Loeffler, the head of the Small Business Administration, seeking to have a notice posted on the agency’s website removed.
Most employees at the Small Business Administration were working during the shutdown, but some of the nearly 25 percent who were furloughed used similar language that blamed Democrats.
“I am out of office for the foreseeable future because Senate Democrats voted to block a clean federal funding bill (H.R. 5371), leading to a government shutdown that is preventing the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) from serving America’s 36 million small businesses,” the out-of-office response read.
In response to a request for comment about the language, an agency spokeswoman’s automatic reply repeated that message, adding that Senate Democrats “are stopping an estimated 320 small businesses from accessing $170 million in SBA-guaranteed funding.”
Ben Casselman, Eric Schmitt and Zach Montague contributed reporting
Eileen Sullivan is a Times reporter covering the changes to the federal work force under the Trump administration.
Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.
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