Government Agencies Should Remain Apolitical

 According to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, the Hatch Act is a federal law passed in 1939 that limits political activity of certain federal employees.  The purpose of the law is to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, to protect federal employees from political coercion at work, and to ensure that employees are advanced based on merit, not political affiliation.

To translate, federal employees are prohibited from engaging from partisan activity while at work.  For example, you can have a bumper sticker on your personal vehicle that supports your favorite elected official, but if you use that vehicle for work, you need to cover up or remove that bumper sticker.

To rephrase the reason for the law, it's there to make sure that employees don't feel coerced to do things out of fear for their job, and to ensure that Americans are free to engage with the various agencies of the government.

When the government shut down at midnight September 30, 2025, many government workers were furloughed.  This resulted in government services being reduced due to lack of funding.  Various departments wisely put up notices saying that the government shutdown is impacting available services until the government reopens.  This type of notice is sensible.

What is NOT sensible is the partisan spin that some agencies have placed in their notices.  To wit:

State Department
Due to the Democrat-led shutdown, website updates will be limited until full operations resume.

HUD
The radical left in Congress shut down the government.  HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need.

USDA
Due to the Radical Left Democrat shutdown, this government website will not be updated during the funding lapse. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.

Department of Justice
Democrats have shut down the government. Department of Justice websites are not currently regularly updated. Please refer to the Department of Justice’s contingency plan for more information.

All of the above notices are clearly partisan in nature. 

The Hatch Act applies to all federal civilian executive branch employees, except for the President and Vice President.  This ostensibly includes the heads of each of the above departments.  Furthermore engagement in in political activity that is "directed at the success or failure of a political party..." is expressly prohibited.  It's also illegal to "post a comment to a blog or social media site that advocates for or against a partisan political party.."

Based on my reading of what's prohibited by the Hatch Act, the people who ordered the statements on the web sites mentioned above are in direct violation of the Act, as are the people who carried out the order.  Government agencies are here to serve the public, not a political party.  Government agencies should remain apolitical.