BOMBSHELL: Furloughed Feds Forced to Blame Democrats in Emails

A political bombshell has been revealed as furloughed federal employees were reportedly required to set their out-of-office emails to a message explicitly blaming Democratic Senators for the government shutdown.

Imagine waking up to the news that your paycheck has stopped, your job is on hold, and your family’s financial stability is suddenly at risk. Now, imagine your employer—the U.S. government—then requires you to use your last official act to send a partisan political attack.

This is the shocking reality facing thousands of federal workers after the government shutdown began on a recent Wednesday morning. It’s not just a political standoff; it’s a brazen attempt to turn non-partisan public servants into political pawns.

The Mandated Blame Game

The bombshell directive originated from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration (ASA), a key agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Furloughed employees were told that setting an out-of-office message was “required” and given the exact, politically-charged language to use.

The mandated email response stated: “Unfortunately, Democratic senators are blocking its passage in the Senate, which has led to a lapse in appropriations.” This message specifically pointed the finger at the opposition party for the funding lapse.

Can you feel the injustice? These are career civil servants—people who process your Social Security, ensure food safety, and manage public health programs—suddenly being forced to choose between following an unethical order and potentially facing retaliation.

Coercion and the Hatch Act

The implications of this move go far beyond a simple email. Ethics experts are raising alarm bells over potential violations of the Hatch Act, the federal law that restricts partisan political activity by executive branch employees.

When agency leaders, who are political appointees, coerce subordinates into political activity, it fundamentally breaks the firewall between government work and campaign politics. This wasn’t an isolated incident; other agencies, including the Department of Education and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), also deployed public and internal messages blaming the “radical left” for the shutdown.

The message is clear: the administration is using the shutdown not just as a bargaining chip, but as a weapon to conduct an internal political campaign on the taxpayer’s dime.

The Human Cost of Political Warfare

Behind the policy battle are real people. Approximately 550,000 federal employees were furloughed without pay at the outset of this shutdown. These are your neighbors, friends, and family members who are now facing an immediate financial crisis.

For a furloughed HHS worker, the anxiety over a missed paycheck is compounded by the fear of being forced to violate their ethical duty. This weaponization of a crisis turns the non-partisan federal workforce into a political target, sowing fear and uncertainty into the very backbone of government operations.

The threat doesn’t end with a furlough. The White House has also signaled that this shutdown could be used as an “opportunity” to initiate widespread layoffs—a reduction-in-force—targeting programs and personnel deemed “not consistent with the President’s priorities”. This adds a terrifying layer of fear: cooperate with the political messaging or risk being on the list for permanent termination.

What’s Really at Stake

This isn’t just about a temporary shutdown; it’s about the integrity of the civil service itself. The core of American governance rests on a neutral, professional bureaucracy that serves all administrations and all citizens, regardless of party.

When one side attempts to commandeer the email accounts of career professionals for partisan messaging, it fundamentally erodes the public trust. It transforms government operations into a political machine, threatening to politicize every level of federal service.

The question you must ask yourself is: If the government is willing to break its own rules and threaten its own employees to win a political fight, what will it do next? The fight to reopen the government is also a fight to preserve the non-partisan principles that keep our democracy functioning.

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Original Source: Politicalwire.com

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