Merkley Leads Senators to Call for Removal of Political Propaganda from Federal Agency Websites and Communication Channels

Washington, D.C. - As the Trump Administration blatantly tries to weaponize federal funding and misuse official government communications channels for partisan propaganda purposes, Oregon's U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Rhode Island's U.S. Senator Jack Reed, both senior members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, led 22 Senate colleagues-including Oregon Senator Ron Wyden-in demanding the Trump Administration immediately remove unprecedented partisan political messages from official government websites and other official communication accounts that violate federal law.

While President Trump has the same free speech rights as every other citizen and may use the 'bully pulpit' of the presidency to express his political views, the rules and regulations of federal agencies and federal law itself clearly restrict the political activities of civil servants using official government resources. Federal agencies have an obligation to operate and serve the American people without regard to politics. Indeed, during the first Trump Administration, the government shut down twice for a length of 3 and 35 days, respectively, and agency websites followed past precedent in notifying Americans about the shutdown.

As early as September 30, 2025, in the lead-up to the ongoing government shutdown, federal agencies began a seemingly coordinated effort to blast partisan political messages from official government websites, accounts, and email correspondence. For example, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) official website is currently dominated by a misleading red banner that reads: "The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government," while some furloughed employees in the U.S. Department of Education report that their non-partisan out-of-office messages have been modified without their consent to try and make it seem like they blame Senate Democrats for voting against Republican funding proposals.

In their letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought, the Senators call for the immediate removal of the illegal, partisan messages to comply with the law. Merkley, who serves as the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and has direct oversight over OMB, is leading the charge to hold accountable those within the Trump Administration who have directed the behavior.

"These activities are in blatant violation of Section 715 of P.L. 118-47, which prohibits federal funds from being used for propaganda purposes 'designed to support or defeat legislation pending before the Congress,'" the Senators wrote. "These activities also appear to violate the Anti-Lobbying Act and the Hatch Act. We urge you to immediately remove these illegal, partisan messages to comply with the law and hold accountable those who have directed this behavior."

The letter notes a pattern of abuse and politicization of executive branch agencies that includes official sites for HUD, the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Additionally, civil servants at the SBA, Department of Labor, Department of Education, and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were also reportedly instructed by Trump Administration officials to improperly set automatic reply email messages containing partisan political propaganda.

Blasting the administration's blatant attempts to mislead the American public and misuse American tax dollars, they also pointed out, "As you well know, these messages are misleading, given that Democrats have voted four times over the last week to fully fund the government only to be rebuffed by our Republican colleagues."

The Senators continued, "Spirited public debate has its place, but agency resources, including websites or emails, should not be used to send overtly political, and in this case, misleading messages, to the American people."

In addition to Merkley, Reed, and Wyden, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Mark Warner (D-VA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Gary Peters (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Peter Welch (D-VT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Angus King (I-ME), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).

Violating the Hatch Act can be cause for removal from federal service, and other penalties may include grade reduction, ban from government employment for up to five years, suspension, reprimand, or a civil penalty up to $1,000. Violating the Anti-Lobbying Act can result in civil penalties of $10,000 to $100,000 per occurrence.

Full text of the letter can be found by clicking here and follows below:

Director Vought,

As Congress continues to work on funding the federal government for Fiscal Year 2026, the White House and political appointees assigned to agencies within the executive branch have been engaged in a widespread campaign of partisan political activities. These activities are in blatant violation of Section 715 of P.L. 118-47, which prohibits federal funds from being used for propaganda purposes "designed to support or defeat legislation pending before the Congress." These activities also appear to violate the Anti-Lobbying Act and the Hatch Act. We urge you to immediately remove these illegal, partisan messages to comply with the law and hold accountable those who have directed this behavior.

As early as September 30, 2025, federal agencies began publicly posting various notices and other media from official accounts, on official websites, and in official email correspondence that violate Sec. 715's prohibition on propaganda.

For example, beginning on September 30, 2025, the official website for the Department of Housing and Urban Development displayed a blatantly partisan political banner on their website claiming that the "Radical Left are going to … inflict massive pain on the American people…" On October 1, 2025, similar partisan political messages appeared on the websites for the Small Business Administration, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Agriculture, among others.

In addition to website updates, federal employees - including of the Small Business Administration, Department of Labor, Department of Education, and Department of Veterans Affairs - were reportedly directed to set automatic reply email messages containing partisan political propaganda which asserts that "Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations." As you well know, these messages are misleading, given that Democrats have voted four times over the last week to fully fund the government only to be rebuffed by our Republican colleagues. But more important, they are clear violations of Section 715, which prohibits the use of federal funds by an agency to publicly support or oppose legislation pending before Congress.

Spirited public debate has its place, but agency resources, including websites or emails, should not be used to send overtly political, and in this case, misleading messages, to the American people.

Congress has enacted longstanding laws to ensure that partisan political activities and propaganda do not impede the government's ability to serve all Americans. However, given the blatant, systematic, and repeated violations of Sec. 715 of P.L. 118-47, and likely the Anti-Lobbying and Hatch Acts, over the last week, you must immediately remove these partisan messages from all executive branch agency communications and websites.

###