Federal employees at the Small Business Administration received official guidance to blame Democratic senators in their out-of-office messages during the government shutdown that began October 1, 2025. The agency’s human resources department distributed a politically charged email template accusing Senate Democrats of blocking funding legislation and preventing SBA services to 36 million small businesses.
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Partisan Language in Official Communications
The SBA’s suggested out-of-office reply, obtained by journalists, stated employees were unavailable “because Senate Democrats voted to block a clean federal spending bill (HR 5371), leading to a government shutdown.” The template claimed Democrats were “stopping an estimated 320 small businesses from accessing $170 million in SBA-guaranteed funding” daily. It concluded by praising “record-breaking services we are providing under the leadership of the Trump Administration,” injecting explicit political messaging into official government communications.
An SBA employee who requested anonymity expressed shock at the directive. “My jaw dropped when I read it,” the employee told reporters, adding concern that using the template “would be a blatant violation of the Hatch Act.” The Hatch Act specifically prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities while performing official duties. The law’s purpose includes protecting “federal employees from political coercion in the workplace,” according to the Office of Special Counsel, which enforces the statute.
Legal Experts Question Hatch Act Compliance
Government ethics experts immediately raised concerns about the SBA directive’s legality. Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, characterized the situation as “coerced speech where the government is forcing employees to spread its propaganda in communicating with the public.” The Hatch Act Modernization Act of 2012 strengthened protections against precisely this type of political coercion, with violations potentially resulting in disciplinary action including termination.
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The suggested email language appears to violate multiple Hatch Act provisions prohibiting use of official authority to affect election results and banning political activity while on duty. During the 2018-2019 government shutdown, the Office of Special Counsel issued specific guidance reminding agencies that Hatch Act restrictions remain in effect during funding lapses. Legal experts noted that while agencies can explain shutdown impacts, they cannot legally assign blame to specific political parties in official communications.
Contrast With Other Agency Approaches
Other federal agencies maintained nonpartisan communications during the shutdown. The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided employees with a standard out-of-office template stating they were “on furlough without access to email, due to the lapse in federal government funding” and directed inquiries to USA.gov. This approach aligned with historical precedent from previous shutdowns, where agencies typically explain the funding lapse without assigning political blame.
The Office of Personnel Management guidance for previous shutdowns emphasized that furloughed employees should not work during funding gaps, including “responding to emails or otherwise performing work functions.” The SBA’s directive represented a departure from this established protocol by incorporating political messaging into what would normally be administrative communications. The agency’s press team did not respond to requests for comment about the unusual template.
Impact on Small Businesses and Government Operations
The shutdown halted SBA services critical to small business formation and expansion. According to SBA data, the agency guaranteed approximately $44 billion in loans to small businesses in the previous fiscal year, supporting an estimated 72,000 enterprises. The email template’s claim that 320 businesses daily were losing access to $170 million in financing highlighted the real economic consequences of the funding lapse, even as the political framing raised legal concerns.
Small business advocates expressed frustration with the situation. “Whether the email is political or not, the reality is that small businesses seeking SBA loans during this period face complete uncertainty,” said a representative from the National Federation of Independent Business. The organization noted that previous shutdowns created significant backlogs in loan processing that took months to resolve, disproportionately affecting new entrepreneurs and minority-owned businesses that rely heavily on SBA programs.
