On Tuesday, the Department of Education in Washington confirmed that its employees are currently on furlough due to a government shutdown. This situation has led to unexpected and politically charged responses in the out-of-office email notifications of some furloughed workers.
Furor erupted when employees discovered that their automatic replies had been altered without their consent to reflect the Trump administration’s stance, which attributed the shutdown to “Democrat Senators” obstructing the passage of H.R. 5371. The modified messages indicated a lapse in appropriations and implied that the inaction of congressional Democrats was to blame for the furloughs.
One employee, who requested anonymity for fear of repercussions, expressed dismay over the inserted language and mentioned concerns about possibly violating federal law by logging into the system to change it. These altered email responses mirror statements made across various government platforms since the cessation of operations, as Congress struggles to agree on funding measures, primarily due to disagreements over Medicaid funding and health insurance subsidies.
While some agencies updated their websites with similar partisan messages surrounding the shutdown, the Education Department’s official site refrained from directly addressing the blame on Democrats. Nevertheless, multiple agencies released communications urging employees to include politically charged language regarding the furloughs in their out-of-office replies.
The insertion of partisan language into the Education Department’s automatic replies appears to be a rare instance of the administration overriding employee responses. When queried for a comment, an automatic reply from Education Department spokesperson Madi Biedermann did not contain any partisan rhetoric, simply acknowledging the government shutdown due to a lapse in appropriations. However, a subsequent response from Biedermann echoed the administration’s narrative regarding the funding issue, stating, “Where’s the lie?” in defense of the initial email modification.
Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland voiced his disappointment over the imposition of such partisan rhetoric on federal employees, affirming that they are expected to remain nonpartisan, as mandated by the Hatch Act. This law is designed to keep government employees free from political influence.
Concerns surrounding the mixing of politics with government operations were further amplified by statements from officials like Housing Secretary Scott Turner, who took to social media to characterize the shutdown in partisan terms. He dismissed the criticism as a necessary public service to inform Americans of the implications of the ongoing shutdown.
Despite various agencies providing disparate instructions regarding how furloughed employees should handle out-of-office messages, the overarching theme of political rhetoric has drawn scrutiny and disappointment from federal workers and lawmakers alike. As the government shutdown continues, it remains to be seen how this situation will affect the operation of federal agencies and their employees long term.