(WASHINGTON) — The top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee is urging Republicans to hold a hearing on whether the Trump administration committed ethics violations at the beginning of the government shutdown by providing politically charged out-of-office email replies for government employees.

Ranking Member Bobby Scott, D-Va., said multiple federal agencies violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities during their official duties, when they used government messaging that disparaged and blamed Democrats for the shutdown.

“Multiple Executive Departments under the jurisdiction of our Committee have taken political actions in apparent violation of the Hatch Act and other statutes,” Scott wrote in a letter first obtained b

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