Democrats accuse White House of playing politics with shutdown messaging, cancelled projects

U.S. senators were headed back to the Capitol for another vote on government funding on the third day of a partial shutdown, but there has been no sign of any real progress toward ending their standoff.

Although Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, the Senate’s filibuster rules make it necessary for the government funding legislation to gain support from at least 60 of the 100 senators. That’s given Democrats a rare opportunity to use their 47 Senate seats to hold out in exchange for policy concessions.

Democrats have demanded that a set of expiring health insurance tax credits be extended before they sign on to any deal. Republicans, who need several Democratic votes in the Senate, said those negotiations should wait until after the funding measure passes.

The shutdown could have far-reaching effects on the economy. Roughly 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, and they could lose out on $400 million US in daily wages. That loss in wages until after the government reopens could drive down wider demand for goods and services.

The U.S. Labour Department has suspended economic data releases as a result, including the closely watched monthly employment report that would have been delivered Friday morning.

The Trump administration’s budget director, Ross Vought, said Friday it would withhold $2.1 billion US for Chicago infrastructure projects, expanding funding fights that have targeted Democratic areas during the shutdown. The pause affects a long-awaited plan to extend the city’s Red Line train.

Vought made a similar announcement earlier this week involving New York, where he said $18 billion US for infrastructure would be paused, including funding for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River.

“Obstructing these projects is stupid and counterproductive because they create tens of thousands of great jobs and are essential for a strong regional and national economy,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week on X.

‘Blatant propaganda’ from agencies: Democratic activist

Meanwhile, a growing number of Americans who have routine interactions with the federal government have been met this week with partisan messaging. The rhetoric, popping up in bright-red webpage banners, email autoreplies and social media posts, blames Democrats for the impasse.

For example, a weekly newsletter emailed from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs blamed Senate Democrats for the federal shutdown, saying they were blocking a stopgap bill to fund the government “due to unrelated policy demands.” It then listed various disruptions to veterans’ resources.

WATCH | Vance blames Democrats, White House says layoffs imminent: 

White House says federal worker layoffs ‘imminent’ after shutdown

Blame was thrown around by all sides on the first day of the shutdown after the White House and Congress failed to agree on a way to keep the U.S. government funded and open. The White House said layoffs to the federal workforce were ‘imminent.’

“This blatant propaganda being spat out was astonishing,” said army veteran Samuel Port, a Virginia-based volunteer for the progressive advocacy organization Common Defense. “Then the astonishment turned into just anger that we’re being politicized like this.”

Many internet users noticed the first political postings from government agencies on Tuesday, before the shutdown began. The website of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development displayed a message warning that “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.”

Of the 15 executive departments in President Donald Trump’s cabinet, at least 10 posted messages this week blaming Democrats or the “radical left” for the shutdown, including out-of-office email messages coming from the Department of Education.

The White House isn’t shying away from the politics, displaying a by-the-second ticker on its website adding up the length of time for which “Democrats Have Shut Down the Government.”

Violation of law alleged

Multiple experts said the messages also violate a 1939 law called the Hatch Act, which restricts certain political activities by federal employees. Kathleen Clark, a government ethics lawyer and law professor at Washington University, said they are “aimed at pursuing partisan political advantages” and therefore violate the law.

On Thursday, Democrats on the House’s oversight committee sent a letter to the Office of Special Counsel calling for an investigation into the messages for “apparent violations of the Hatch Act,” as did the non-profit progressive group Public Citizen.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner said in a Wednesday night interview with NewsNation that he’s not worried about the Hatch Act allegations against his agency. He called them a “distraction” to deflect from “irresponsible actions on the Hill” and how “Americans are being impacted greatly by this government shutdown.”

Experts say the communication strategy from across the federal government reflects how aligned Trump’s entire administration has become with his targeting of political opponents.

“The big risk here is that it erodes the fundamental trust that people have in government’s ability to be impartial,” said Don Kettl, a professor emeritus and former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.

The White House and several Republicans in Congress are also trolling the opposition by sharing Mexican sombrero memes of several Democrats in videos and social media posts. The memes are connected to a debunked claim that Democrats are holding up the functioning of the government by looking to extend health care and other benefits to unauthorized U.S. residents from foreign countries.

On Wednesday, several Latin organizations released a joint statement decrying an AI video of Schumer and top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries shared by Trump as “reprehensible.”