Senate Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are calling on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate what they say were “partisan messages released to the public” by federal agencies ahead of and during the government shutdown.
The lawmakers say they have “legislative responsibilities” to oversee the appropriate use of federal funds and want Comptroller General Gene Dodaro to “investigate reports that agencies directed employees to post political out-of-office messages, in order to determine whether such messages violated federal appropriations law.”
One of the most prominent examples of an official message that Democrats believe crossed the lines was a video of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blaming Democrats for the shutdown that played at airports across the country.
Critics argued it potentially violated the Hatch Act, the federal law that prohibits executive branch employees from using their official positions or federal resources to influence elections.
Senate Democrats wrote that “some agencies’ announcements appeared to include nothing more than partisan messaging and lacked a connection to official business.”
They highlighted a message that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) posted on its website on Oct. 1 declaring: “The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands.”
The Democrats also cited similar messages posted by the departments of Agriculture, Justice and Treasury and the Small Business Administration.
The Nov. 9 letter was signed by Warren as well as Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.).
The senators noted that some agencies directed furloughed employees to post political messages in their out-of-of-office email responses, citing media reports.
“The Department of Labor reportedly ‘sent a message to all employees … suggesting potential out-of-office notification’ that accused Democrats of shutting down the government,” they wrote.
They reminded the comptroller general that the GAO is responsible for issuing legal opinions to Congress and federal agencies on the use of and accountability for public funds under appropriations law.
“Federal law … prohibits agencies from using any appropriated funding, directly or indirectly, to generate publicity designed to influence Congress in supporting or opposing legislation or appropriations,” they wrote.
The senators asked the accountability office to list “any and all” public communications, including website postings and messages, released by federal agencies and federal employees during the shutdown.
They want the agency to flag communications and posting that contained terms such as “Radical Left” or “Democrats.”
They want to know which officials were responsible for decisions to post partisan messages about the shutdown, and summaries of the processes followed to issue partisan public communications and website postings.
They’ve asked the GAO to “provide any and all costs of these messages” and to specify the source of funds that paid for those expenses.
