Ahead of Wednesday’s government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Tuesday posted a banner in large type on its homepage blaming the shutdown on the “Radical Left,” an allegation that an ethics group said was a “blatant violation” of the Hatch Act.
“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,” the message read. “The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people.”
A complaint filed Tuesday with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel by the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen alleged that the banner on HUD’s website was a “blatant violation” of the Hatch Act, describing it as “highly partisan” and seeking to “idolize the Trump administration … without attributing any blame for the lack of compromise causing the shutdown.”
The Hatch Act is a federal law passed in 1939 that “limits certain political activities of federal employees as well as some state, D.C., and local government employees who work in connection with federally funded programs,” according to the Office of Special Counsel.
Its purpose, among other things, is to “ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion,” the office explains.
“This is such an obvious violation of the Hatch Act that it raises the question: ‘How on Earth does HUD think they can get away with this?'” Craig Holman, a government ethics expert with Public Citizen, who filed the complaint on behalf of his group, said in a statement. “The answer is that the Trump administration has managed to neuter the ethics enforcement offices in the executive branch. Those who are responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act — namely, the Office of Special Counsel, followed by the Office of Government Ethics and the Attorney General’s office — have all been taken over by Trump loyalists or those who are intimidated by Trump.”
“The sheer crassness of this partisan advertisement by HUD using taxpayer dollars to campaign against Democrats and promote the Trump administration is going to make it exceedingly difficult for even a neutered ethics office to ignore,” Holman added.
CBS News has reached out to HUD and the White House for comment on Public Citizen’s complaint and Holman’s allegations.
The Office of Special Counsel is an independent federal agency that is designed to enforce the Hatch Act, investigate wrongdoing within the executive branch and protect whistleblowers from retaliation.
Earlier this year, President Trump fired Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, the head of OSC, and replaced him with acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer. Dellinger sued over the firing, but it was upheld by a federal appeals court. Since returning to office, Mr. Trump has fired more than a dozen federal inspectors general who are tasked with investigating wrongdoing at government agencies.
The shutdown, which took affect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, came after the Senate failed to push through a short-term funding bill that passed the House earlier this month.
Democrats have called for the bill to include a permanent extension of tax credits passed in 2021 for those receiving health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, as well as a rollback of Medicaid cuts that were part of Mr. Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that passed this summer.
Some Republican lawmakers have argued that the “big, beautiful bill” did not cut Medicaid, but instead that it eliminated fraud within the program.
“We’re not cutting Medicaid,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in June, prior to the passage of the “big, beautiful bill.” “What we’re doing is strengthening the program. We’re reducing fraud, waste and abuse that is rampant in Medicaid to ensure that that program is essential for so many people.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers from both parties cast blame on the other over the shutdown. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday night that “Republicans have until midnight to cut the garbage and get serious,” while Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the shutdown “totally avoidable,” adding that “if the government shuts down, it is on the Senate Democrats.”
Melissa Quinn and
contributed to this report.
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