A watchdog group on Friday issued a complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, saying an “entirely political” email from the Biden-Harris Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to Medicare recipients should be investigated as a Hatch Act violation.
The complaint cites a report from The Daily Wire about a taxpayer-funded email blast that was sent in September from HHS and praised Vice President Kamala Harris.
The email went to everyone signed up to receive updates on the government’s Medicare program, which is used by 66 million people. It featured a letter from President Joe Biden highlighting the administration’s “historic reforms” to the program, attributing the benefits to the work of Harris, the Democratic nominee for President.
“We request the Office of Special Counsel investigate whether Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and other federal employees violated the Hatch Act by sending a blatant political email to Medicare recipients,” Kendra Arnold, the executive director of Foundation for Accountability & Civic Trust (FACT), said in a letter to Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire.
“The unsolicited email was paid for by HHS and utilized identification rolls kept by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),” Arnold said. “The email was entirely political in both its purpose and language, it was sent to citizens who are Medicare recipients from an official government email address and from an official department.”
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“This type of political advocacy from a government agency targeting citizens who interact with it is exactly the type of politicalization of government functions that the Hatch Act is designed to prevent,” the letter continued.
The email in question touts the Biden-Harris administration “lowering health care costs” for seniors and “save[ing] money for American taxpayers.” It gives the credit to Harris, noting that she cast the tie-breaking vote to give Americans these supposed benefits. It also states that Biden and Harris believe health care should be “a right,” which is a common Democrat talking point on the campaign trail.
Multiple recipients of the email contacted The Daily Wire to complain about receiving such a political letter. “It is nothing but a campaign ad for the Biden Administration and Kamala Harris,” one recipient told The Daily Wire, noting that the email “even states that VP Harris cast the tie breaking vote.”
This apparent violation, Arnold argues, is particularly “egregious and outrageous,” because “it involved a potentially massive universe of government data,” citing the use of citizens’ email addresses. The email blast was likely sent to millions of Americans.
“The government endorsement of a political candidate and the use of taxpayer-funded resources to do so is the exact political behavior forbidden by the Hatch Act,” the FACT executive director said. “This example is so obvious, brazen and over-the-top that not acting on it would be a significant blow to the integrity of the law.”
“Thus, we urge the Office of Special Counsel to immediately act and investigate whether Secretary Xavier Becerra and other employees of the Department of Health and Human Services and Executive Office of the President violated the Hatch Act,” Arnold closed.
FACT is a nonprofit based in D.C. “dedicated to promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas,” according to its website.
The complaint includes the full text of the Daily Wire report, which can be viewed here.
