{"id":13990,"date":"2025-10-02T17:46:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T17:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/top-oversight-dem-calls-for-investigation-over-white-house-shutdown-messaging\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T17:46:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T17:46:40","slug":"top-oversight-dem-calls-for-investigation-over-white-house-shutdown-messaging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/top-oversight-dem-calls-for-investigation-over-white-house-shutdown-messaging\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Oversight Dem calls for investigation over White House shutdown messaging"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Rep. Robert Garcia<\/a> (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, is urging acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer to investigate the White House for its messaging on the government shutdown, which he argues is in violation of federal law.<\/p>\n

In a letter to Greer on Thursday<\/a>, Garcia wrote that the messaging appears to contravene the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolations of the law must be held accountable,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Senate Democrats continue to hold out for an extension on Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies, with the government shutdown in its second day. But President Donald Trump and White House allies are heaping pressure on the party\u2019s moderate wing to join Republicans\u2019 continuing resolution, threatening mass layoffs<\/a> and pulling funding from Democratic-leaning<\/a> states and cities.<\/p>\n

Garcia has taken issue with a key element of White House messaging<\/a>: Banners atop public websites for several agencies \u2014 including the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Agriculture \u2014 that blame Democrats for the shutdown<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Radical Left in Congress shut down the government,\u201d reads a message posted to HUD\u2019s website<\/a>. \u201cHUD will use available resources to help Americans in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia wrote that the alleged violations \u201cfit a pattern of abuse and politicization of Executive Branch agencies, which we will investigate fully.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the nonprofit Public Citizen filed complaints against HUD<\/a> and the Small Business Administration<\/a> for the messaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Administration\u2019s statements make it abundantly clear that these messages are intended to circumvent the law, further highlighting the need for an immediate investigation,\u201d Garcia wrote. \u201cFederal agencies work for the American people, not a political party.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Some ethics experts that spoke to POLITICO on Wednesday<\/a> said the messaging may not violate the Hatch Act \u2014 but could violate a separate law called the Anti-Lobbying Act.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, is urging acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer to investigate the White House for its messaging on the government shutdown, which he argues is in violation of federal law. In a letter to Greer on Thursday, Garcia wrote that the messaging appears to contravene […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}