Washington, D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released the following statement following a report from the Office of Special Council (OSC) finally replying, after almost a year, to the Committee’s submissions of repeated Hatch Act violations by the Trump Administration through posts on federal agency websites blaming Democrats for the 2025 federal government shutdown. In OSC’s unsatisfactory reply, they claimed that further investigation or disciplinary action was not warranted, effectively asserting that that the incident did not merit further OSC resources, despite receiving more than 1,000 complaints on the issue.
“The government works for the American people, period, not to weaponize agencies for partisan propaganda campaigns. OSC’s response is not satisfactory and the Committee will continue to perform vigilant oversight over OSC, push for answers, and ensure the Hatch Act is followed and enforced,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.
On October 2nd , 2025, Ranking Member Garcia wrote to Acting Special Counsel of OSC Jamieson Greer, to highlight repeated violation of the federal Hatch Act. The letter references inflammatory political rhetoric that was weaponizing agencies during the government shutdown, highlighting posts from the Department of Housing and Urban Development blaming the “Radical Left” for inflicting “massive pain” on the American people, for example, among a variety of messaging in violation of the Hatch Act. OSC is responsible for enforcing compliance of the Hatch Act, which limits certain partisan political activity by federal employees. The Hatch Act is a key tool for protecting the impartiality and nonpartisanship of the federal workforce. The Hatch Act ensures that government resources are not used to influence elections and that government works on behalf of the American public, not to advance a specific political candidate, campaign, or party. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will continue to follow up with OSC and better understand how OSC properly enforces the Hatch Act.
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