Several US federal agencies have been accused of violating the Hatch Act after they began blaming Democrats for an impending government shutdown. The Hatch Act restricts the political activities of government employees, but departments including Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) issued statements attacking the 'radical left' and 'radical liberals in Congress'.
The VA statement described Democrats as trying to shut down the government 'to achieve their crazy fantasy of open borders, “transgender” for everybody and men competing in women’s sports'. HUD posted a pop-up on its website claiming 'the Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people'.
An email sent to employees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), obtained by the Guardian, said any funding lapse would be 'forced by congressional Democrats'. Similar emails were reportedly sent to staff at the interior, commerce, and labour departments, as well as several other agencies.
Legal experts said the actions likely violate the Hatch Act. Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University, stated: 'Yes, this violates the Hatch Act.' She noted the email had 'a partisan political goal' and constituted 'both a violation of the Hatch Act and an abuse of government power'. Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, called it 'highly unusual' and suggested a 'concerted lobbying effort' using taxpayer-funded systems, which would also breach laws on lobbying with federal funds.
The Trump administration has continued to reduce the federal workforce, with around 750,000 employees facing furlough in a shutdown. Marty Makary, head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), told staff in a video that the FDA would be exempt from any further staff reductions due to its public safety role.
