5 ms·

Gov workers say their shutdown out-of-office replies were forcibly changed

116 points by xqcgrek2 1y ago

ck2 1y ago
DOGE f-kery it's pretty obvious they can now search and replace across most if not all government websites now let's hope that backdoor is locked down and not available for foreign entities and this is of course a massive Hatch-Act violation but we're way past law breaking this far into the regime
- Alupis 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - mikeyouse 1y ago
    “Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of HR 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations.” Come on. The message is overtly political (blaming democrats for the shutdown when republicans control the presidency + the house + the senate) and 100% of the people pretending it’s not would be outraged if the same thing was posted under a different administration.
    - briandear 1y ago
      Is it factual?
      - mikeyouse 1y ago
        No.
        Alupis 1y ago
        Can you elaborate on which part you believe isn't true? The bill already passed the House. The Democrats have a minorotiy in the Senate. 60 votes are required to pass the bill - and Democrats are holding it up, deliberately for political reasons. It's entirely factual.
        sunnyps 1y ago
        Republicans can end the filibuster in the Senate with a simple majority after which they can pass the funding bill with a simple majority. But of course, they won't do that since it opens up other bills to be passed with a simple majority too in the future. So it's not factual. edit: This is what they would need to do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_option https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_option
        lesuorac 1y ago
        Its weird how restoring congress to how the framers intended (majority vote) is called the "Nuclear option".
        xp84 1y ago
        It’s weird to me that any Democrat would be rooting for the nuclear option right now. After losing so badly last year, after demographic trends continue to degrade their ability to win majorities in either house or in to win in most swing states, and with Trump improving his numbers even in blue states last year. Democrats are currently daring Republicans to eliminate their last resort option to block anything, even though they should not be confident that the DNC will ever be in a position to benefit from this new power later themselves. I think shutdowns are usually pretty stupid, but I’m not reading for “nuclear option” to be the way this one gets resolved.
        UncleMeat 1y ago
        While I'd prefer to get the first legislative crack at it, I am extremely convinced that the filibuster is poison to our country. Congress cannot pass anything meaningful except one omnibus spending bill each year via budget reconciliation, which has arcane rules around flat budget impact after 10 years. Since congress can't do anything, we naturally move more and more of the details of federal governance to executive agencies and executive orders. While not all of this is bad, it has a few horrible effects. First, the supreme court is more willing to interfere with executive action, amplifying its power as it finds reason to protect actions by the favored party and cancel actions by the disfavored party. Increasing the power of the supreme court shifts federal power towards an unelected branch that is the slowest to adjust to changing voter preference. Second, as more power within the executive gets concentrated specifically with the president we enable more and more federal action at the whims of exactly one person. This exposes us to the current situation, where Trump is unfettered in how he wields the executive branch rather than guiding it and having its power distributed across the executive branch. And we've also got the general popular dissatisfaction with congress and the democratic process because they can't get shit done. A country that has an enormously unfavorable opinion of congress is more primed for collapse into anti-democratic governance. Yes, if we didn't have the filibuster then the GOP could pass all sorts of nightmare legislation. But I'd prefer legislation enabled through the will of the people to this slow collapse into authoritarianism.
      - Jtsummers 1y ago
        The Republicans can end the shutdown today. They don't want to, they're letting it continue and that's their choice. They need 0 Democratic or independent votes to pass the funding bill if they change the rules, which requires a simple majority vote and they have that.
        Alupis 1y ago
        The longer the government is shut down, the better excuse/cover the executive branch has to permanentely layoff and shutdown departments. Democrats are going to lose this standoff either way...
        lesuorac 1y ago
        I disagree. I think the fact that Democrats let Trump have a blank check-book for his first term was a massive mistake. We went from having government shutdowns all the time due to the rampant spending to just covering up the fact that he's blowing through more money than presidents do in 8 years. It leads to a perception that he's actually fiscally responsible.
        Alupis 1y ago
        At this point, either political party pretending to care at all about fiscal responsibility is absolutely hilarious. The standoff is about a component of the Affordable Care Act that is expiring. Democrats don't have the footing to win this battle - so the longer the standoff holds the worse outcome they can expect. Trump's administration seems to have wanted this shutdown... and Democrats walked right into the landmine.
    - Alupis 1y ago
      Which part of the statement is false or campaigning? Is it not true Democrats have blocked the passage of the bill? Of course it is.. and people should know that, shouldn't they?
      - mikeyouse 1y ago
        ‘People should be lied to by the government out of political convenience’ is a theory I guess. Though not one I’d endorse. It’s equally true that “Senate republicans failed to put forth a spending CR that could attract 60 votes” or “Senate republicans failed to pass filibuster reform to only require 50 votes on spending measures.” Are equally true statements yet somehow they didn’t make the autoresponders. Weird.
        Alupis 1y ago
        Always finding a way to blame the Republicans... last time they were in the minority and were blamed for shutting down the government. Now they're in the majority and you still want to blame them for shutting down the government. To summarize, you want to blame the oppositition for not passing your flavor of a spending bill, ie. one that suits your politics. Elections have consequences - and the longer Democrats drag this out the more excuse the executive branch will have to permanentely lay off people and shutdown departments.
        mikeyouse 1y ago
        Whoever’s to blame (the party that controls all three branches), it’s still wildly inappropriate and illegal to put political messaging on Federal websites (www.hud.gov for one glaring example) and in email signatures. > To summarize, you want to blame the oppositition for not passing your flavor of a spending bill, ie. one that suits your politics. Seems a bit like projection when your summary is based on your weird assumption for who I would’ve blamed previously. > Elections have consequences - and the longer Democrats drag this out the more excuse the executive branch will have to permanentely lay off people and shutdown departments. That’s not how any of this works.. the Executive branch doesn’t have the constitutional ability to shut down departments or lay people off when they’re congressional mandated. This level of political science ignorance is a big part of how we got here. Elections do have consequences and if Republicans feel that they have a mandate to kill USAID or any other department, they can pass a spending bill that zeroes it out. The President doesn’t get to decide to not spend those funds after Congress has authorized them. It’s inconceivable to me that people don’t understand how much this line of thought and the associated actions have broken our government in ways that are going to be very difficult to undo.
    - xp84 1y ago
      They don’t “control” the Senate. You need 60 seats in the Senate if the other party is willing to filibuster everything, and boy howdy are both parties willing to these days. If the GOP did have 60 seats, then they’d be able to pass that clean bill over the filibuster of the Democrats.
      - mikeyouse 1y ago
        I didn’t say they have a filibuster proof majority in the senate, ‘control’ is just a bare majority because at that point you can bring up whatever legislation you want for votes.
  - mcmcmc 1y ago
    Saying Dems are blocking it when the GOP refuses to show up for their jobs and negotiate is a pretty big reach. And calling it “clean” when it doesn’t even balance the budget is just bullshit
  - fhdkweig 1y ago
    I couldn't read the article on Wired, but I found this one at MSN https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/education-department-employees-surprised-to-find-their-email-automatically-changed-to-blame-democrats-for-shutdown/ar-AA1NKCbo https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/education-department... It says: The altered email messages included language saying: "Thank you for contacting me. On September 10, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse of appropriations, I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume." I don't like that it includes "I" and "me" because it looks like someone is putting words in the employee's mouth. I wouldn't consider that factual.
    - chris_va 1y ago
      Yes. I also hate this "is it factual" question because it ignores the underlying problem. It could still be factual and read "Senate Republicans have blocked voting on S 2882" instead, or more extreme "Registered Republicans have lower education rates than democrats". Just because something is factual does not mean it is not a political statement, and one that would not have been made by the employee whose communication was changed. Let's all not play dumb here.
    - Alupis 1y ago
      The DOE already had a standard auto-responder text, which also included "I" and "me". The text was changed - and a handful of employees are making a stink of it. They didn't get a choice in messaging either way. In fact, the ending is nearly identical between the two.
  - immibis 1y ago
    > It's factual. Nobody asked why Republicans, which control every branch of government, need Democrats to cooperate with them to pass a budget, which only requires 50% to pass due to the special process for budget bills. Oh, right. Because they mislabeled the One Big Beautiful Bill as a budget bill, which means they've used up their one special budget bill for the year and now the actual budget bill has to play by the rules for non-budget bills. Skill issue.
    - ranger_danger 1y ago
      > only requires 50% to pass This is incorrect. The bill that just failed (https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5371 https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5371), is an appropriations bill. 60 votes are needed, and the final vote was 55-45. https://apnews.com/article/democrats-republicans-shutdown-negotiations-votes-health-care-29b11579bfc694a52b9e8e272a47bb91 https://apnews.com/article/democrats-republicans-shutdown-ne... What you are referring to with the "50%" is a reconciliation bill (which is what the OBBB was), which requires a simple majority (50% + 1) to pass, and cannot be filibustered. Appropriations bills are what keep the government open. Reconciliation bills do not have this effect. The OBBB could not have been an appropriations bill because those are designed to make changes to mandatory spending programs and taxes, while reconciliation bills are for funding discretionary government operations annually. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1 https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1 https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/13/politics/budget-resolution-reconciliation-spending-bills-explainer https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/13/politics/budget-resolution-re...
      - immibis 1y ago
        Reality: the reconciliations bill is whichever bill they say it is. Budget reconciliation is often used for bills that are not actually budget reconciliations. Republicans fucked up this time. Skill issue. Also reality: there's a government shutdown because the Republicans want a government shutdown (for some reason). They've ignored so many more important laws already, there's no reason they couldn't ignore the filibuster thing, or just continue spending money without having a budget bill (like they are continuing to spend money on Israel and ICE without having a budget)
  - ck2 1y ago
    the very first thing DOGE did way back in February was take command and control over the email systems (so they could also feed into machine-learning) r/fednews was FULL of warnings about all the unvetted foreign computers being brought in and plugged into the networks, specifically back then to hijack the email servers remember how they had to harvest all the emails to send out the demands for people to quit? it's "f-kery" specifically, this has never been done by any other administration, no-one previously would dare, it violates all kinds of laws https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/27/politics/federal-employees-email-system-privacy-concerns-lawsuit https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/27/politics/federal-employees-em...
  - JohnFen 1y ago
    > if you read the actual message (quoted in the article), it's factual, and therefore not political messaging. It's not factual, though, because it's telling (at best) a half-truth aimed at demonizing one political position. It's pure political messaging.
- briandear 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
- culi 1y ago
  This is it. The project of DOGE was always to centralize all the disparate parts of the government to make it easier to control all of its functions by a smaller team This is a pretty silly manifestation of that power but it's a sign of things to come. The fact that they were able to change government websites, email signatures, and more within minutes after the shutdown should scare us
Simulacra 1y ago
That's ridiculous, and could be illegal, because in changing the response, they are taking on the speech of the named employee. If that's not a first amendment violation, I don't know what is. Federal employees are not allowed to be involved in politics while they are employed by the federal government, I know there's exceptions and everything, but at its core this action is repugnant.
- philipallstar 1y ago
  > in changing the response, they are taking on the speech of the named employee Would you say that a company adding a standard footer to your outgoing emails is taking on your speech?
  - riotnrrd 1y ago
    I would say the Federal Government is different from a private company.
  - rolph 1y ago
    this is not about attaching a standard footer.
  - smelendez 1y ago
    It depends on what the footer says. This isn't a company though, it's the government, and it's generally considered unprofessional if not illegal for federal employees to make partisan statements on the job. There's also the fact that, in my experience, out-of-office autoreplies are generally drafted by the employee while footers are often standardized by the employer. Additionally, there are strict rules on what federal civil servants can do during a shutdown that don't really apply in private industry, which means whatever official channels would exist to complain probably aren't available. I don't think furloughed employees are supposed to send official email, either, which means they can't clarify who provided this message even if someone is confused by it.
    - SpaceNoodled 1y ago
passive 1y ago
This weaponization of public resources for partisan purposes is hardly surprising, but given the government is shut down, I would imagine black or even grey hats might feel like it's open season on .gov, so I would be surprised to see much durability in their attempts.
- bragr 1y ago
  I don't know about this shutdown, but in past shutdowns, many non-essential .gov sites just pulled the plug for the duration.
- rolph 1y ago
  the hatz are already there, they have been for a long time.
- razster 1y ago
  This post from Reddit’s Redding, California community is definitely weaponized. https://old.reddit.com/r/Redding/comments/1nvgu8b/guess_i_wont_be_foraging_in_shasta_this_weekend/ https://old.reddit.com/r/Redding/comments/1nvgu8b/guess_i_wo...
  - culi 1y ago
    Nothing to do with Redding. It's all over the USDA website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/ https://www.fs.usda.gov/ > The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government. This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.
    - l2p 1y ago
      SBA message is somehow worse... https://sba.gov https://sba.gov
      - culi 1y ago
Alupis 1y ago
[flagged]
- ulrashida 1y ago
  And yet even here it's not entirely factual -- the correct term is Democratic Senators. "Democrat" is a shortening often used for partisan purposes.
- yogorenapan 1y ago
  Speaking in first person does feel like impersonation and completed speech though
- plantwallshoe 1y ago
  It’s not factual that democratic senators are blocking the bill. Republicans have a majority in both houses and can pass the bill at any time.
  - mcmcmc 1y ago
    Budget resolutions require 60 votes to pass, so they really can’t. But they know that and their refusal to negotiate is blocking it. Dems are doing what’s best for their constituents by not voting for a budget that would skyrocket healthcare costs for millions of Americans. Meanwhile the GOP is spreading misinformation that Dems want to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants, who have NEVER been eligible for it.
    - bbatsell 1y ago
      Budget resolutions for quite some time have used the reconciliation process, which only requires a simple majority (but imposes some restrictions). The problem is that they shoved through the “OBBBA” using the process intended for the budget, and now it’s no longer available. You can only use the process once per year per subject (spending, revenue, debt limit), and the OBBBA used up all three.
    - plantwallshoe 1y ago
generationP 1y ago
That's the longest pronoun signature I've seen.
josefritzishere 1y ago
It's pretty clear the president has dementia.
- softwaredoug 1y ago
  I’m skeptical. I think he’s just always been pretty nonsensical.
  - mingus88 1y ago
    We’ve seen him on narcissist rage, but I think we are only beginning to witness the sundowning aggression
  - lesuorac 1y ago
    He took a dementia test and couldn't remember the questions the next day and instead just made up words like Man, Woman, Person, Tv, Camera. That's dementia. He's old, it happens.
- libraryatnight 1y ago
  I doubt it'd be different if he didn't - this is the sort of thing to which his entire administration is committed. Life's not going to get better if Vance takes his place. Not saying it should be ignored, just int he context of this discussion I don't see it mattering
xnx 1y ago
Imagine if any one of the dozen outrageous things which have happened in the past 14 days happened under any other president. There would be immediate congressional hearings and likely impeachment proceedings.
legitster 1y ago
Banners from all of the various affected websites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_federal_government_shutdown#/media/File:2025_United_States_federal_government_shutdown_notification_by_department.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_federal_gov... This is like something my 7-year old would do.
rsynnott 1y ago
The Republicans control all branches of government, and are _still_ somehow blaming the democrats for this? Such babies. Like, surely even to their own supporters this looks… not great?

116 points by xqcgrek2 1y ago

ck2 1y ago

DOGE f-kery it's pretty obvious they can now search and replace across most if not all government websites now let's hope that backdoor is locked down and not available for foreign entities and this is of course a massive Hatch-Act violation but we're way past law breaking this far into the regime

Alupis 1y ago
[flagged]
- mikeyouse 1y ago
  “Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of HR 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations.” Come on. The message is overtly political (blaming democrats for the shutdown when republicans control the presidency + the house + the senate) and 100% of the people pretending it’s not would be outraged if the same thing was posted under a different administration.
  - briandear 1y ago
    Is it factual?
    - mikeyouse 1y ago
      No.
      - Alupis 1y ago
        Can you elaborate on which part you believe isn't true? The bill already passed the House. The Democrats have a minorotiy in the Senate. 60 votes are required to pass the bill - and Democrats are holding it up, deliberately for political reasons. It's entirely factual.
        sunnyps 1y ago
        Republicans can end the filibuster in the Senate with a simple majority after which they can pass the funding bill with a simple majority. But of course, they won't do that since it opens up other bills to be passed with a simple majority too in the future. So it's not factual. edit: This is what they would need to do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_option https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_option
        lesuorac 1y ago
        Its weird how restoring congress to how the framers intended (majority vote) is called the "Nuclear option".
        xp84 1y ago
        It’s weird to me that any Democrat would be rooting for the nuclear option right now. After losing so badly last year, after demographic trends continue to degrade their ability to win majorities in either house or in to win in most swing states, and with Trump improving his numbers even in blue states last year. Democrats are currently daring Republicans to eliminate their last resort option to block anything, even though they should not be confident that the DNC will ever be in a position to benefit from this new power later themselves. I think shutdowns are usually pretty stupid, but I’m not reading for “nuclear option” to be the way this one gets resolved.
        UncleMeat 1y ago
        While I'd prefer to get the first legislative crack at it, I am extremely convinced that the filibuster is poison to our country. Congress cannot pass anything meaningful except one omnibus spending bill each year via budget reconciliation, which has arcane rules around flat budget impact after 10 years. Since congress can't do anything, we naturally move more and more of the details of federal governance to executive agencies and executive orders. While not all of this is bad, it has a few horrible effects. First, the supreme court is more willing to interfere with executive action, amplifying its power as it finds reason to protect actions by the favored party and cancel actions by the disfavored party. Increasing the power of the supreme court shifts federal power towards an unelected branch that is the slowest to adjust to changing voter preference. Second, as more power within the executive gets concentrated specifically with the president we enable more and more federal action at the whims of exactly one person. This exposes us to the current situation, where Trump is unfettered in how he wields the executive branch rather than guiding it and having its power distributed across the executive branch. And we've also got the general popular dissatisfaction with congress and the democratic process because they can't get shit done. A country that has an enormously unfavorable opinion of congress is more primed for collapse into anti-democratic governance. Yes, if we didn't have the filibuster then the GOP could pass all sorts of nightmare legislation. But I'd prefer legislation enabled through the will of the people to this slow collapse into authoritarianism.
    - Jtsummers 1y ago
      The Republicans can end the shutdown today. They don't want to, they're letting it continue and that's their choice. They need 0 Democratic or independent votes to pass the funding bill if they change the rules, which requires a simple majority vote and they have that.
      - Alupis 1y ago
        The longer the government is shut down, the better excuse/cover the executive branch has to permanentely layoff and shutdown departments. Democrats are going to lose this standoff either way...
        lesuorac 1y ago
        I disagree. I think the fact that Democrats let Trump have a blank check-book for his first term was a massive mistake. We went from having government shutdowns all the time due to the rampant spending to just covering up the fact that he's blowing through more money than presidents do in 8 years. It leads to a perception that he's actually fiscally responsible.
        Alupis 1y ago
        At this point, either political party pretending to care at all about fiscal responsibility is absolutely hilarious. The standoff is about a component of the Affordable Care Act that is expiring. Democrats don't have the footing to win this battle - so the longer the standoff holds the worse outcome they can expect. Trump's administration seems to have wanted this shutdown... and Democrats walked right into the landmine.
  - Alupis 1y ago
    Which part of the statement is false or campaigning? Is it not true Democrats have blocked the passage of the bill? Of course it is.. and people should know that, shouldn't they?
    - mikeyouse 1y ago
      ‘People should be lied to by the government out of political convenience’ is a theory I guess. Though not one I’d endorse. It’s equally true that “Senate republicans failed to put forth a spending CR that could attract 60 votes” or “Senate republicans failed to pass filibuster reform to only require 50 votes on spending measures.” Are equally true statements yet somehow they didn’t make the autoresponders. Weird.
      - Alupis 1y ago
        Always finding a way to blame the Republicans... last time they were in the minority and were blamed for shutting down the government. Now they're in the majority and you still want to blame them for shutting down the government. To summarize, you want to blame the oppositition for not passing your flavor of a spending bill, ie. one that suits your politics. Elections have consequences - and the longer Democrats drag this out the more excuse the executive branch will have to permanentely lay off people and shutdown departments.
        mikeyouse 1y ago
        Whoever’s to blame (the party that controls all three branches), it’s still wildly inappropriate and illegal to put political messaging on Federal websites (www.hud.gov for one glaring example) and in email signatures. > To summarize, you want to blame the oppositition for not passing your flavor of a spending bill, ie. one that suits your politics. Seems a bit like projection when your summary is based on your weird assumption for who I would’ve blamed previously. > Elections have consequences - and the longer Democrats drag this out the more excuse the executive branch will have to permanentely lay off people and shutdown departments. That’s not how any of this works.. the Executive branch doesn’t have the constitutional ability to shut down departments or lay people off when they’re congressional mandated. This level of political science ignorance is a big part of how we got here. Elections do have consequences and if Republicans feel that they have a mandate to kill USAID or any other department, they can pass a spending bill that zeroes it out. The President doesn’t get to decide to not spend those funds after Congress has authorized them. It’s inconceivable to me that people don’t understand how much this line of thought and the associated actions have broken our government in ways that are going to be very difficult to undo.
  - xp84 1y ago
    They don’t “control” the Senate. You need 60 seats in the Senate if the other party is willing to filibuster everything, and boy howdy are both parties willing to these days. If the GOP did have 60 seats, then they’d be able to pass that clean bill over the filibuster of the Democrats.
    - mikeyouse 1y ago
      I didn’t say they have a filibuster proof majority in the senate, ‘control’ is just a bare majority because at that point you can bring up whatever legislation you want for votes.
- mcmcmc 1y ago
  Saying Dems are blocking it when the GOP refuses to show up for their jobs and negotiate is a pretty big reach. And calling it “clean” when it doesn’t even balance the budget is just bullshit
- fhdkweig 1y ago
  I couldn't read the article on Wired, but I found this one at MSN https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/education-department-employees-surprised-to-find-their-email-automatically-changed-to-blame-democrats-for-shutdown/ar-AA1NKCbo https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/education-department... It says: The altered email messages included language saying: "Thank you for contacting me. On September 10, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse of appropriations, I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume." I don't like that it includes "I" and "me" because it looks like someone is putting words in the employee's mouth. I wouldn't consider that factual.
  - chris_va 1y ago
    Yes. I also hate this "is it factual" question because it ignores the underlying problem. It could still be factual and read "Senate Republicans have blocked voting on S 2882" instead, or more extreme "Registered Republicans have lower education rates than democrats". Just because something is factual does not mean it is not a political statement, and one that would not have been made by the employee whose communication was changed. Let's all not play dumb here.
  - Alupis 1y ago
    The DOE already had a standard auto-responder text, which also included "I" and "me". The text was changed - and a handful of employees are making a stink of it. They didn't get a choice in messaging either way. In fact, the ending is nearly identical between the two.
- immibis 1y ago
  > It's factual. Nobody asked why Republicans, which control every branch of government, need Democrats to cooperate with them to pass a budget, which only requires 50% to pass due to the special process for budget bills. Oh, right. Because they mislabeled the One Big Beautiful Bill as a budget bill, which means they've used up their one special budget bill for the year and now the actual budget bill has to play by the rules for non-budget bills. Skill issue.
  - ranger_danger 1y ago
    > only requires 50% to pass This is incorrect. The bill that just failed (https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5371 https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5371), is an appropriations bill. 60 votes are needed, and the final vote was 55-45. https://apnews.com/article/democrats-republicans-shutdown-negotiations-votes-health-care-29b11579bfc694a52b9e8e272a47bb91 https://apnews.com/article/democrats-republicans-shutdown-ne... What you are referring to with the "50%" is a reconciliation bill (which is what the OBBB was), which requires a simple majority (50% + 1) to pass, and cannot be filibustered. Appropriations bills are what keep the government open. Reconciliation bills do not have this effect. The OBBB could not have been an appropriations bill because those are designed to make changes to mandatory spending programs and taxes, while reconciliation bills are for funding discretionary government operations annually. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1 https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1 https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/13/politics/budget-resolution-reconciliation-spending-bills-explainer https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/13/politics/budget-resolution-re...
    - immibis 1y ago
      Reality: the reconciliations bill is whichever bill they say it is. Budget reconciliation is often used for bills that are not actually budget reconciliations. Republicans fucked up this time. Skill issue. Also reality: there's a government shutdown because the Republicans want a government shutdown (for some reason). They've ignored so many more important laws already, there's no reason they couldn't ignore the filibuster thing, or just continue spending money without having a budget bill (like they are continuing to spend money on Israel and ICE without having a budget)
- ck2 1y ago
  the very first thing DOGE did way back in February was take command and control over the email systems (so they could also feed into machine-learning) r/fednews was FULL of warnings about all the unvetted foreign computers being brought in and plugged into the networks, specifically back then to hijack the email servers remember how they had to harvest all the emails to send out the demands for people to quit? it's "f-kery" specifically, this has never been done by any other administration, no-one previously would dare, it violates all kinds of laws https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/27/politics/federal-employees-email-system-privacy-concerns-lawsuit https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/27/politics/federal-employees-em...
- JohnFen 1y ago
  > if you read the actual message (quoted in the article), it's factual, and therefore not political messaging. It's not factual, though, because it's telling (at best) a half-truth aimed at demonizing one political position. It's pure political messaging.
briandear 1y ago
[flagged]
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
culi 1y ago
This is it. The project of DOGE was always to centralize all the disparate parts of the government to make it easier to control all of its functions by a smaller team This is a pretty silly manifestation of that power but it's a sign of things to come. The fact that they were able to change government websites, email signatures, and more within minutes after the shutdown should scare us

Simulacra 1y ago

That's ridiculous, and could be illegal, because in changing the response, they are taking on the speech of the named employee. If that's not a first amendment violation, I don't know what is. Federal employees are not allowed to be involved in politics while they are employed by the federal government, I know there's exceptions and everything, but at its core this action is repugnant.

philipallstar 1y ago
> in changing the response, they are taking on the speech of the named employee Would you say that a company adding a standard footer to your outgoing emails is taking on your speech?
- riotnrrd 1y ago
  I would say the Federal Government is different from a private company.
- rolph 1y ago
  this is not about attaching a standard footer.
- smelendez 1y ago
  It depends on what the footer says. This isn't a company though, it's the government, and it's generally considered unprofessional if not illegal for federal employees to make partisan statements on the job. There's also the fact that, in my experience, out-of-office autoreplies are generally drafted by the employee while footers are often standardized by the employer. Additionally, there are strict rules on what federal civil servants can do during a shutdown that don't really apply in private industry, which means whatever official channels would exist to complain probably aren't available. I don't think furloughed employees are supposed to send official email, either, which means they can't clarify who provided this message even if someone is confused by it.
  - SpaceNoodled 1y ago

passive 1y ago

This weaponization of public resources for partisan purposes is hardly surprising, but given the government is shut down, I would imagine black or even grey hats might feel like it's open season on .gov, so I would be surprised to see much durability in their attempts.

bragr 1y ago
I don't know about this shutdown, but in past shutdowns, many non-essential .gov sites just pulled the plug for the duration.
rolph 1y ago
the hatz are already there, they have been for a long time.
razster 1y ago
This post from Reddit’s Redding, California community is definitely weaponized. https://old.reddit.com/r/Redding/comments/1nvgu8b/guess_i_wont_be_foraging_in_shasta_this_weekend/ https://old.reddit.com/r/Redding/comments/1nvgu8b/guess_i_wo...
- culi 1y ago
  Nothing to do with Redding. It's all over the USDA website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/ https://www.fs.usda.gov/ > The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government. This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.
  - l2p 1y ago
    SBA message is somehow worse... https://sba.gov https://sba.gov
    - culi 1y ago

Alupis 1y ago

[flagged]

ulrashida 1y ago
And yet even here it's not entirely factual -- the correct term is Democratic Senators. "Democrat" is a shortening often used for partisan purposes.
yogorenapan 1y ago
Speaking in first person does feel like impersonation and completed speech though
plantwallshoe 1y ago
It’s not factual that democratic senators are blocking the bill. Republicans have a majority in both houses and can pass the bill at any time.
- mcmcmc 1y ago
  Budget resolutions require 60 votes to pass, so they really can’t. But they know that and their refusal to negotiate is blocking it. Dems are doing what’s best for their constituents by not voting for a budget that would skyrocket healthcare costs for millions of Americans. Meanwhile the GOP is spreading misinformation that Dems want to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants, who have NEVER been eligible for it.
  - bbatsell 1y ago
    Budget resolutions for quite some time have used the reconciliation process, which only requires a simple majority (but imposes some restrictions). The problem is that they shoved through the “OBBBA” using the process intended for the budget, and now it’s no longer available. You can only use the process once per year per subject (spending, revenue, debt limit), and the OBBBA used up all three.
  - plantwallshoe 1y ago

generationP 1y ago

That's the longest pronoun signature I've seen.

josefritzishere 1y ago

It's pretty clear the president has dementia.

softwaredoug 1y ago
I’m skeptical. I think he’s just always been pretty nonsensical.
- mingus88 1y ago
  We’ve seen him on narcissist rage, but I think we are only beginning to witness the sundowning aggression
- lesuorac 1y ago
  He took a dementia test and couldn't remember the questions the next day and instead just made up words like Man, Woman, Person, Tv, Camera. That's dementia. He's old, it happens.
libraryatnight 1y ago
I doubt it'd be different if he didn't - this is the sort of thing to which his entire administration is committed. Life's not going to get better if Vance takes his place. Not saying it should be ignored, just int he context of this discussion I don't see it mattering

xnx 1y ago

Imagine if any one of the dozen outrageous things which have happened in the past 14 days happened under any other president. There would be immediate congressional hearings and likely impeachment proceedings.

legitster 1y ago

Banners from all of the various affected websites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_federal_government_shutdown#/media/File:2025_United_States_federal_government_shutdown_notification_by_department.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_federal_gov... This is like something my 7-year old would do.

rsynnott 1y ago

The Republicans control all branches of government, and are _still_ somehow blaming the democrats for this? Such babies. Like, surely even to their own supporters this looks… not great?