“The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need,” said a message framed in red on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as of Wednesday afternoon.
As Audacy tried to load the site Wednesday, the homepage frequently failed. Its announcement comes in the wake of a government shutdown that began at 12:01 a.m. Oct. 1 as polarized Congressional Republicans and Democrats themselves fail to come to an agreement about spending.
Both sides have blamed each other for the shutdown, which puts some employees in a position where they have to work for deferred pay and puts others on furlough. Some programs, such as the U.S. Postal Service and Social Security benefit checks, should still be up and running, however.
“Democrats are holding the American government HOSTAGE with wild partisan demands – including giving taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a Wednesday X post. “Senate Democrats still have time to put politics aside and PASS our continuing resolution today. It’s never too late to do the right thing. If they refuse, Americans will unfortunately continue to pay the price.”
Meanwhile, Democrats have said that the GOP will not negotiate on two key issues: Healthcare, mainly focused on the Affordable Care Act, and pocket rescissions, as explained by Audacy here.
“Let me be perfectly clear: Undocumented people CANNOT AND WILL NOT receive ACA premium tax credits BY LAW,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in his own Wednesday X post. “PERIOD. This is a LIE from Republicans to divert attention from their shutdown. Republicans are refusing to lower healthcare costs for the American people.”
In another post, Schumer called the halt in government funding “[President] Donald Trump’s government shutdown,” and said “Donald Trump and Republicans have barreled us into a shutdown because they refused to protect Americans healthcare.
HUD – the site with the message about the “radical left” – is responsible for administering programs that provide housing and community development assistance as well as working to ensure fair and equal housing opportunity for all. It is currently led by Secretary Scott Turner, a former football player and former chair of the Center for Education Opportunity at the America First Police Institute. He also shared the message on X.
Similar messages popped up on other federal government websites. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice site had this message up on Wednesday afternoon: “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.”
“Also on Wednesday morning, employees at the Small Business Administration were provided ‘suggested’ language to include in their out of office automatic replies mirroring the partisan accusations made by OMB before the shutdown,” NPR reported.
It also said “the inclusion of overtly political messages in federal agency communications raised immediate alarm bells for some federal workers and ethics experts,” including some who said it could violate the Hatch Act prohibiting civil servants in the executive branch from engaging in most political activity inside federal buildings or while on duty. According to NPR, the “highly partisan language” differs from other administrations’ messaging during government shutdowns.
By Wednesday afternoon, it wasn’t yet clear how long the impasse between the parties – and therefore the shutdown – will last. During Trump’s previous term, there was a shutdown that lasted more than 30 days.
Per an Associated Press report, a vote to end the shutdown failed Wednesday when “Democrats in the Senate held firm to the party’s demands to fund health care subsidies that President Donald Trump and Republicans refuse to provide.” Although the GOP holds majorities in both chambers of Congress, they still need Democratic support to get the latest spending legislation through.