WASHINGTON: The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development website displayed an unusual message blaming Democrats for an impending government shutdown.
Visitors to HUD.gov on Tuesday encountered a pop-up accusing the Radical Left of threatening to shut down government unless receiving their 1.5 trillion dollar demands.
The Trump administration statement claimed it wanted to keep government open for American people.
This message appeared repeatedly in a bright red banner across the housing agency’s official website.
Congressional Democrats condemned the overtly partisan messaging as government propaganda and misinformation.
Representative Sylvia Garcia of Texas stated government webpages should not contain political messages.
“I have never seen that kind of message,“ said Garcia, a House Financial Services Committee member.
She expressed doubt such messaging would have been acceptable under previous administrations.
Other Democrats noted HUD was simply repeating rhetoric from President Donald Trump and the White House.
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland called it a radical departure from American history.
Raskin described the action as using taxpayer funds for overtly political and polemical reasons.
Federal government operations faced potential shutdown at midnight Tuesday without congressional action.
The shutdown would occur unless Senate Democrats supported a House Republican funding proposal.
Democrats rejected the seven-week continuing resolution to fund government operations.
Instead they demanded Republicans negotiate an extension of expiring healthcare benefits.
These healthcare benefits are scheduled to expire at the end of the calendar year. – Reuters