The website of the Housing and Urban Development Department includes a banner and a contextual message accused the “radical left” for an imminent government closure.
Screenshot / hud.gov
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Screenshot / hud.gov
The Trump administration blame the Democrats for the probable government closure in internal communications from the Federal Agency as well as on at least one public website, in what experts say they are a violation of federal ethics laws.
A bright red banner and a pop-up message that appeared Tuesday on the website of the Housing and Urban Development Department warns: “The radical left will close the government and inflict massive pain in the American people unless they obtain their wishes of 1.5 billion of dollars. The Trump administration wants to keep the government open to the American people.”
The staff members of several agencies and departments of the cabinet received emails on Tuesday from the office of the management and budget of the White House. Many shared screenshots of these emails with NPR or have confirmed the text of the message they received. The messages indicated that any period in the financing of the government would be “constrained by the Democrats of the Congress”.
“President Trump opposes a government closure and strongly supports the promulgation of HR 5371, which is a continuous resolution to finance the government until November 21, and has already adopted the House of Representatives of the United States,” said the message. “Unfortunately, the Democrats block this continuous resolution in the American Senate due to unrelated political demands. If the Democrats of the Congress maintain their current posture and refuse to pass a continuous resolution to maintain the funded government on September 30, 2025, the appropriate federal funding will be Lapse.”
The message continues: “The agency has emergency plans in place to execute an ordered closure of activities which would be affected by any forfeiture of the credits forced by the Democrats of the Congress.”
Similar messages have been received by the staff of the interior, trade, labor, state, treasure, justice, agriculture and health and social services, the Social Security Administration, the General Services Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Bureau of Staff Management and the National Labor Relations Board, according to Screenshots NPR.
The Republicans control the two chambers of Congress but need democratic support in the Senate to approve any government funding agreement.
A declaration from the Veterans Department also used a strongly partisan language, claiming that “radical liberals at the congress” should be blamed for services that are not available during a closure, such as career advice and the closure of regional social benefits offices.
“The radical liberals at the congress try to close the government to achieve their mad fantasy of open borders,” transgender “for everyone and the men in competition in female sports,” said the press secretary at VOE Pete Kasperowicz in a statement sent to the media. “If they succeed, they will stop critical care and assistance programs for veterans.”
Health care for veterans will not be affected and the ERC emergency plan notes that around 97% of its employees will not be on leave.
Alarm Ringings for Ethics Experts
The inclusion of openly political messages in the communications of federal agencies has raised immediate alarm ringtones for certain federal workers and experts in ethics. They said it could violate the Hatch law, which prohibits civil servants in the executive power to engage in most political activities within federal or service buildings.
“This correspondence from officials of the federal government could be considered a violation of the Hatch law,” said Michael Fallings, a partner of Tully Rinckey, a law firm, in a statement. “The Hatch Act prohibits engaging in political activities while it was officially, including communication which contains a plea in terms of opposition to a political party. Here, while the reference to the Democrats alone is probably not a violation, the explicit blame of the Democratic Party for the closure and the reference to the radical left ” may constitute a violation.”
“The code of ethics requires that federal employees serve the American public impartially, regardless of their political opinions. This message cannot technically violate the act of hatching – because it does not plead for specific candidates or does not weigh on the elections, but it certainly violates the spirit of this law,” said Donald Sherman, Executive Director and Citizens for Citizens and Ethics In Washington, a Washington workddog surveillance group, a non-improvisation liberal.
“A closure will result in stress for the public, whatever its political affiliation. The work of the agency management at the moment is to provide non -partisan service to their voters, not to politicize the situation and to blame political enemies,” said Sherman.
“We all accept that the Hatch law is zero and not avenue,” said a federal worker, who asked for anonymity because they fear reprisals from the Trump administration for speaking. “Nothing matters.”
Sent to the White House request
The very partisan language of the Trump administration also differs from that used by other administrations during previous closures.
Before a closure of the government which lasted more than two weeks in 2013, the Obama, then Obama, wrote a letter to the federal employees who thanked them for their service and reprimanded a congress which “did not succeed in assuming its responsibility” to approve a spending plan, without mentioning the Republicans.
“This closure has been completely preventable,” he wrote. “This should not have happened. And the House of Representatives can end as soon as it follows the example of the Senate, and finances your work within the United States government without trying to attach very controversial and partisan measures in the process.”
“This type of email informing us of a potential closure is not new, but the tone and blame of a political party are certainly unusual,” said a personnel management office who asked for anonymity due to fear of reprisals.
Tuesday’s messages were sent by the agency management, but in several cases, clearly indicated that they had been sent to the White House request.
“The management and budget office asked that we send you the attached message concerning an end of financing period,” the e-mail indicates to NLRB staff. The National Council for Labor Relations refused to comment.
“This message was issued under the management of the management and budget office and in accordance with their protocols,” said a spokesperson for the Interior Department in a statement at NPR.
“The reality is that the Trump administration wants to keep the government open so that HHS, including the CDC, can fully protect the health and well-being of the public.
The management and budget office did not respond to a request for comments.
The message to employees of the Labor Department was not signed by leadership and was sent from a generic e-mail address that does not accept the answers, said an employee of the department who asked for anonymity due to the fear of reprisals.
At the Social Security Administration, the email came from Commissioner Frank Bisignano, according to a staff member who asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals.
“He read like a campaign email,” said the staff member.
The departments of labor, housing and urban development, trade, justice, agriculture and treasury, centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Social Security Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the General Services Administration and the Personnel Management Office did not respond to requests for comments. The Securities and Exchange Commission refused to comment.
Federal employees are in advance in this week’s financing negotiation, as the White House threatened to dismiss certain federal workers when closing rather than workers temporarily on leave, as is usually done.
The Qul Lawrence and Tamara Keith of NPR contributed the reports.
Do you have any information you want to share on closure or other restructuring changes across the federal government? Contact the authors on signal. Shannon link is in Shannonbond.01, Jenna McLaughlin is in Jennamclaughlin.54, and Stephen Fowler is at stphnfwlr.25.
