(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The Trump administration has instructed federal employees to set up their out-of-office email messages to blame “Democrat Senators” for the government shutdown, according to reporting from ABC News.
Capitol Hill correspondent Jay O’Brien reported on the text of an email template provided in advance to furloughed Labor Department employees.
“Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations,” the suggested message read. “Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.”
Departments of Justice employees told ABC News they received message templates with similar language. In addition, some furloughed federal employees at the Department of Education said their out-of-office replies were automatically reset to blame Democrats.
“[They] did it after everyone left,” one Education Department staffer told ABC News, adding, “[I’m] so pissed.”
Some federal departments did not send out any out-of-office email guidance, ABC News reported.
When ABC News emailed the White House press office Wednesday, an automatic response read: “Due to staff shortages resulting from the Democrat Shutdown, the typical 24/7 monitoring of this press inbox may experience delays… as you await a response, please remember this could have been avoided if the Democrats voted for the clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government open.”
Several federal workers told ABC News they were concerned that adding the messages to their email accounts would violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities during their official duties.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee,
wrote the Office of the Special Counsel to investigate the “blatant violation of the law.”
“I write regarding the Trump Administration’s apparent violations of the Hatch Act, and illegal use of government resources to promote a false, partisan Republican political agenda,” Garcia wrote in a letter obtained by MSNBC.
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