The Department of Housing and Urban Development updated its website on Tuesday with a pair of partisan messages that replaced the agency’s landing page, claiming the “radical left” are behind the impending government shutdown.
“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,” read a bright red banner and identically worded message on the agency’s homepage. “The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people.”
The message immediately raised alarms for government ethics groups who are actively analyzing whether the message violates the Hatch Act, the 1939 federal law preventing federal employees from expressing political messages in their official capacity. HUD is the first federal agency to publicly express an opinion on this week’s looming government shutdown as lawmakers struggle through a final day of negotiations before federal funding expires at midnight.