1:17Rep. Bobby Scott speaks during a House Education and Workforce hearing, June 5, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington.Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
The leading Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee is calling on Republicans to convene a hearing regarding potential ethics breaches by the Trump administration at the onset of the government impasse. The alleged breaches involve providing politically slanted out-of-office automated responses for government personnel.
Ranking Member Bobby Scott, D-Va., asserted that several federal organizations contravened the Hatch Act. This statute disallows federal employees from participating in political activities while performing their official roles. The violation occurred, according to Scott, through the employment of government messaging that denigrated Democrats and laid blame on them for the work stoppage.
Rep. Bobby Scott speaks during a House Education and Workforce hearing, June 5, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington.Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
"Numerous Executive Departments falling under the purview of our Committee have undertaken political actions that seemingly contravene the Hatch Act and other laws," Scott expressed in a letter initially obtained by ABC News. "I am writing to request that you conduct hearings on these actions without delay," Scott stated.
The federal entities under the authority of the House committee — including within the departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture — are utilizing public pronouncements on their web pages that characterize the lapse in appropriations as a "Democrat-instigated" shutdown. These statements also place culpability on the "radical left."
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) also prompted federal staff members across the administration — spanning departments such as Labor, Justice, and Education — to formulate out-of-office electronic mail responses condemning "Democrat Senators" for triggering the governmental closure, as multiple sources verified to ABC News.
The method seems to vary among different agencies. Certain federal departments did not disseminate any out-of-office electronic mail directives.
Nevertheless, several furloughed employees at the Department of Education have reported that their out-of-office replies were automatically altered, without their approval, to read: "Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume."
One Department of Education worker informed ABC News, "They [the agency] did it after everyone departed." "[I'm] so furious," they conveyed.
The staff member appended, "We, as career civil servants, must maintain impartiality when executing our duties. This is absolute nonsense."
A number of federal workers, encompassing the Education Department staffer, voiced apprehensions to ABC News that incorporating the messages into their electronic mail accounts would infringe upon the Hatch Act. The Education employee, incensed about the message, underscored that federal workers are obligated to "serve all individuals within this nation."
The staff member went on to say, "That [automatic reply] communication is what any person seeking assistance from a government employee will be presented with."
In his correspondence to Education Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., Scott denounced the out-of-office response procedure.
"The action of modifying the messages of non-partisan employees to essentially place political discourse in their verbal communications is exceptionally inappropriate, and may represent a contravention of further federal criminal statutes," he penned.
The correspondence arises as discussions to provide funding for the government have reached a stalemate, with the closure extending beyond one week.
In tandem, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) — a union advocating for federal government workers whose automatic response messages were substituted the preceding week — initiated legal proceedings against the Department of Education for purportedly substituting the electronic mails with messaging that echoed the Trump administration's key arguments.
"Compelling public servants to communicate on behalf of the political leadership's biased agenda is a blatant violation of federal employees' First Amendment entitlements," the AFGE asserted in its suit.
AFGE stands for roughly 800,000 federal employees government-wide, encompassing the majority of the remaining personnel at the Department of Education.
In a statement issued to ABC News, Madi Biedermann, the Department of Education deputy assistant secretary for communications, remarked, "The email reminds individuals who contact Department of Education employees that we are unable to respond as Senate Democrats are declining to vote in favor of a clean CR and provide funding to the government."
"Where exists the untruth?" Biedermann added.
Democracy Forward, the public education advocacy nonprofit symbolizing the plaintiffs in the legal case, rebuked the Trump administration for participating in biased political rhetoric.
In a declaration presented to ABC News, Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman expressed: "This is utterly unacceptable."
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
