USDA website alert blames Dems for shutdown
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) A federal department is publicly siding with President Donald Trump in blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.
On Thursday morning, some conservation groups grew concerned when they clicked on some national forest websites and saw an alert banner at the top of the webpages saying “The Radical Left Democrats shutdown 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,” the banner read.
The partisan notice wasn’t limited to U.S. Forest Service websites. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, had the same phrase plastered at the top of its webpage, and the banner appears on the websites of other USDA agencies.
The banners were likely posted at the direction of Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins, who used a similar accusation when she appeared Thursday on the FOX Business program "Mornings with Maria."
“This is a Radical Democrat shutdown, done for Radical Democrat reasons, targeted to a Radical Democrat base - it has nothing to do with the interests or welfare of the American people,” Rollins wrote Thursday in a post on X publicizing her FOX appearance.
Mike Bader, consultant to the Flathead Lolo Bitterroot Citizen Task Force, said the banner harms the credibility of the Forest Service when it comes to responsibly proposing and carrying out forest projects and policy.
“They’re highly politicized, to the point you can’t trust them to do science-based management. This is blatant propaganda. It’s not for the Forest Service to make the call that that’s the reason for the shutdown,” Bader said.
Retired Lewis and Clark National Forest Supervisor Bill Avey said he’d never seen anything like the partisan statement in his 40 years of service.“I think it’s coming directly from the (Agriculture) Department and the Forest Service was directed to put it on there. I would hate to see the rank-and-file Forest Service, the district rangers and whatnot, be painted with the brush of lack of credibility due to this. They had nothing to do with this,” Avey said.
Avey said others he’s spoken to have suggested that the website post might be a violation of the Hatch Act. They’re not the only ones. Late Wednesday, watchdog group Public Citizen filed a complaint against the Small Business Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for posting similar partisan statements on their websites, according to The Hill. The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees, including Cabinet members, from electioneering while at work.
The Department of the Interior did not follow suit. Alerts posted on National Park Service websites are limited to statements that the “parks remain as accessible as possible during the federal government shutdown.” Bureau of Land Management websites say the BLM websites will not be updated and the agency won’t respond until appropriations are enacted.
The federal government shut down at midnight Tuesday due to the inability of a divided Senate to finalize a budget for the next fiscal year. Republicans proposed a continuing resolution that would fund the government for another seven weeks. Democrats wanted to extend tax credits for premiums for 24 million people, including small business owners, farmers and ranchers, who get their health care coverage through Affordable Care Act plans. Those credits expire at the end of the year when the average premium is expected to increase by 114%.
The resulting Congressional stalemate meant most federal employees are no longer on the job and those who are - those deemed “essential” - will be working without being paid until a budget is passed. According to the New York Times, slightly more than half of the Interior Department 58,619 employees and half of the USDA’s 85,907 employees are furloughed. Within the Department of the Interior, approximately 9,300 Park Service employees were slated to be furloughed, according to a September National Park Service contingency plan.
The Department of the Interior has decided to leave most national parks open although some services, such as trash collection, aren’t available. Inspections of oil and gas and logging operations will also continue.
A number of conservation groups opposed leaving parks open due to the damage that has occurred during previous government shutdowns. Anticipating a possible shutdown, more than 40 national park superintendents sent a Sept. 25 letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, asking him to close the parks to prevent more damage at a time when parks are already vastly understaffed.
“Past shutdowns in which gates remained open with limited staff have hurt our parks: Iconic symbols cut down and vandalized, trash piled up, habitats destroyed, and visitor safety jeopardized. If you don’t act now, history is not just doomed to repeat itself, the damage could in fact be much worse,” the former superintendents wrote. “As stewards of these American treasures, we urge you to prioritize both conservation and visitor safety and protect our national parks during a potential shutdown, and into the future. If sufficient staff aren’t there, visitors shouldn’t be either.”
Wild Montana said the same harm - vandalism, theft, illegal use and unsafe conditions - can also come to national forests and BLM lands, which have also suffered staffing cuts. The organization called on Montana’s Congressional delegation to pursue bipartisan solutions to end the shutdown.
“This shutdown is part of a pattern of undermining our public lands and institutions: hollow out land management agencies. Fire land managers. Slash funding. Give corporations control. Set the stage for privatizing or selling off the places that belong to all of us. This agenda hurts our families and communities and threatens our way of life,” said Kayje Booker, Wild Montana deputy director, in a Sept. 30 release.
With archery and bird season underway and general hunting season around the corner, the Montana Wildlife Federation echoed Wild Montana’s plea to the Congressional delegation.
“Secretary Burgum has gone out of his way to ensure that the shutdown will not hurt his special interest buddies in the oil and gas industries. The shutdown won’t delay the issuance of new drilling permits, which he considers essential. Ensuring safe recreational access to your public lands during hunting season? Not essential, apparently. Sadly, this reveals a great deal about the administration’s values,” said Frank Szollosi, Montana Wildlife Federation executive director in a release.
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.