OMB Encourages Federal Workers to Create Partisan Out-of-Office Replies

ABC News reports that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) encouraged federal employees across the government — including at the Departments of Labor, Justice and Education — to create out-of-office email messages denouncing "Democrat Senators" for causing the government shutdown. Multiple furloughed employees at the Department of Education report their out-of-office replies were automatically reset to mimic the language denouncing Democrats for the shutdown – without their permission. The reporting is consistent with a September 30, 2025, OMB memorandum that declared that "it is now clear that Democrats will prevent passage of this clean CR prior to 11:59 pm tonight and force a government shutdown.” In a court filing, the Department of Justice admitted that the Department of Education changed its employees' out-of-office messages.