The out-of-office responses from the accounts of employees on furlough cast blame for the shutdown on Democrats.

Some furloughed workers at the Department of Education expressed shock on Thursday to find that their out-of-office email messages had been changed without their knowledge to reflect the Trump administration’s view that the government shutdown was the fault of “Democrat Senators.”

“Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations,” the emails said. “Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.”

One Education Department employee, who like another worker interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution, said they wanted to change the language but worried that logging into the system might violate a federal law that prohibits furloughed employees from working.

The language apparently inserted into the emails, which the system automatically sends in response to incoming correspondence, echoes messages plastered on a number of government websites and social media accounts since the government ceased most operations on Wednesday. Congress has been unable to agree on how to fund the government, and congressional Democrats refuse to agree to a spending plan that does not restore funding for Medicaid and extend health insurance subsidies.

Some agencies updated their websites on Wednesday with boldface messages announcing the shutdown and laying the blame on Democrats. In some cases they referenced the “radical left,” echoing Republican talking points. Notably, the Education Department’s website has not been among those casting blame on Democrats.

Multiple agencies directed federal workers to include similarly partisan language in their out-of-office email responses notifying senders that they would not be able to write back until the government reopened.

But the language inserted into the Education Department staff responses appeared to be the first example of the administration overriding an employee’s automatic reply.

In response to a request for comment, an automatic reply from an Education Department spokeswoman, Madi Biedermann, did not include the politically charged language. Instead, it read, “Thank you for your email. There is a temporary shutdown of the U.S. government due to a lapse in appropriations.”

About an hour later, Ms. Biedermann sent another response referencing the continuing resolution that would have funded the government: “The email reminds those who reach out to Department of Education employees that we cannot respond because Senate Democrats are refusing to vote for a clean C.R. and fund the government. Where’s the lie?”

Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, said he had heard from constituents who were outraged that partisan rhetoric was being foisted onto government agencies.

“President Trump is free to spout any partisan nonsense he wants from his giant bully pulpit,” Mr. Raskin, whose district is home to many federal workers, said in a statement on Thursday. “But he may not coerce federal employees into joining his choir.”

While this type of rhetoric has become familiar in Washington from Republicans, federal workers have always been nonpartisan. They are required by a law, the Hatch Act, to work free of political influence or coercion.

Scott Turner, the housing secretary, posted partisan messages about the shutdown on social media, and the department’s website was one of the first to post a notification about the shutdown that assigned the blame to Democrats.

On Thursday, Mr. Turner dismissed concerns that these comments amounted to political propaganda and violated the Hatch Act.

“It’s about informing the American people of the consequences of the Radical Left’s shutdown,” he wrote on the social media site X. “This is their decision, and they need to own it.”

Each department provided different guidance to workers about how to handle their out-of-office messages during the furlough period.

The Education Department initially circulated less political language for employees to use as out-of-office messages, but made clear that the employees could write their own, the staffers said. The Labor Department told employees that it was the Office of Management and Budget that provided instructions on how to construct out of office replies. And the Interior Department used similar language when it notified a contractor that work must stop while the government is shutdown, according to a letter reviewed by The New York Times.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5782484&forum_id=2Elisa#49320899)