Ranking Member Scott Demands Hearings on Trump Administration Breaking Ethics Laws

WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03), House Committee on Education and Workforce, sent a letter to Chairman Tim Walberg requesting hearings on apparent violations of the Hatch Act and potentially other statutes by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Department of Education during the government shutdown.

In the letter, Ranking Member Scott highlights that HHS and USDA used official channels to post a partisan message on their websites blaming Democrats for the shutdown. These actions appear to violate the Hatch Act, a federal law that prohibits government employees from engaging in partisan political activity while performing their official duties or using official resources.

Additionally, at the Department of Education, automatic out-of-office replies for furloughed career staff were reportedly changed-without their knowledge or consent-to include partisan language blaming "Democrat Senators" for the lapse in government funding. This action could also violate federal criminal law that makes it unlawful for "any person to intimidate, threaten, command, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, command, or coerce, any employee of the Federal Government…to engage in, or not to engage in, any political activity."

"Despite this clear prohibition, the Departments have used official channels to undertake political activity in the wake of the government shutdown," wrote Ranking Member Scott. "The act of altering the messages of non-partisan employees to literally put political speech in their mouths is incredibly egregious and may be a violation of additional federal criminal statutes."

Ranking Member Scott is urging the Committee to hold hearings and compel the appearance of Department leaders to answer for these actions.

Yesterday, Ranking Member Scott alongside Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, House Judiciary Committee, referred this matter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting a criminal investigation and appropriate action be taken.

Full text of the letter can be found here.

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democrats-edworkforce.house.gov

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