Following the failure of Congress to pass a funding bill by the midnight deadline, several federal departments under the Trump administration swiftly posted shutdown notices on their websites. These notices, appearing on Wednesday, placed the blame for the government shutdown squarely on Democrats.
The shutdown, which commenced at 12:01 a.m. on October 1st, was triggered after the Senate failed to achieve the necessary 60-vote threshold for a stopgap bill previously approved by the House of Representatives. The notices, as seen in examples across government websites, directly attributed the shutdown to the opposing party. The Senate voted on the stopgap bill, but the vote was insufficient to prevent the shutdown. (RELATED: Trump, Congress Deadlock Triggers First Government Shutdown Since 2019)
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) website displayed a prominent red notice explicitly stating that the “Radical Left in Congress shut down the government.” The Department of Justice also issued a statement, informing the public that its websites would not be regularly updated and directing them to the department’s contingency plan.
Furthermore, the Small Business Administration circulated a template for automated out-of-office replies to furloughed employees. According to reports, this template instructed staff to use language that assigned responsibility for the shutdown to Democrats. This message explained that the employee was out of office due to the Senate Democrats’ vote, which led to the shutdown and prevented the SBA from serving small businesses.
Prior to the shutdown, President Donald Trump had convened with congressional leaders to address the impending issue. However, these discussions proved unsuccessful. The White House press office also issued a statement, citing staff shortages due to the “Democrat Shutdown” and echoing the sentiment of blaming the opposing party for the situation.