DHHS says Gov. Jim Pillen can issue partisan statements with state resources; message blames Democrats for federal shutdown as SNAP shutoff looms
By: Juan Salinas II
LINCOLN — The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services website posted a banner this week blaming U.S. Senate Democrats for the federal government shutdown and urging them to “stop using Nebraska’s most vulnerable people for political leverage.”
On the banner, the state points to Democrats for disrupting the state-federal partnership on public grocery benefits, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, which it says will run out of funds by the end of the month.
The original message followed a similar approach to the Trump administration, some GOP-led states and some Democratic-led states during the messaging battle over who’s to blame for the federal shutdown.
Nebraska DHHS updated the banner on its website Thursday after reporters and others asked questions, tweaking the announcement from a blanket statement by DHHS into the same message shared as a direct quote from Gov. Jim Pillen.
A DHHS spokesperson said the post was added at the Governor’s Office’s request and was updated to “eliminate any confusion” about where the statement came from. State law prohibits public resources from being used for political purposes, as critics of the banner note. On Thursday afternoon, Pillen’s office confirmed that it approved the posting.
DHHS officials and the Governor’s Office said the Republican governor has the authority to issue partisan statements on state websites.
State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, a Democrat, said the tweak to the website is an admission that he overstepped state law by authorizing the statement and is now trying to “thread the needle” with a quote from him.
“Nebraskans are rightly concerned about the disruption of SNAP benefits … and instead of finding solutions, what the governor decided to do was to create yet another distraction,” Conrad said.
Common Cause of Nebraska officials said it was unlikely that Pillen violated state law. The national version of the same group is among legal observers who have argued the Trump administration likely violated the Hatch Act by using government websites and agencies to blame Democrats for the shutdown. That federal law limits political activities of federal employees and federal agencies to ensure government programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion.
Criticisms grew after the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development posted messages blaming the “Radical Left” in Congress for the shutdown, in website banners similar to the initial Nebraska DHHS post. The Trump administration also inserted language in some automated email responses from federal agencies blaming Democrats.
The political messaging also reached American airports in a video by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blaming Democrats for the shutdown, a video Nebraska’s two largest airports have said they aren’t airing.
In Democrat-led Massachusetts, a state government website has an alert saying, “President Trump is freezing SNAP benefits,” while New York’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance urges New Yorkers to call their representatives in Congress.
Earlier this week, Nebraska DHHS announced that SNAP benefits for roughly 150,000 low-income recipients across Nebraska would be paused due to the shutdown. The agency also told Omaha ABC affiliate KETV that it would not take over SNAP funding by itself, because “absorbing the expense of this federal program is not sustainable.”
Twenty-five states have sued the Trump administration over its decision that the USDA cannot use emergency funds to cover SNAP benefits in November. Several other states, such as Virginia and Rhode Island, have declared a state of emergency to reallocate state funds to cover shortfalls in the SNAP program, bolster food pantries or do both.
Texas Democrats have urged Gov. Greg Abbott to use his executive authority to provide emergency state funding. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced some state funding for Iowa’s food banks and pantries and activated the Iowa National Guard for food distribution.
Pillen joined other governors in saying their states can’t cover the missing federal food aid, Pillen’s office said it has no plans to declare an emergency. Nebraska is currently dealing with a budget shortfall.
Also on Thursday, a lawsuit was filed against Steve Corsi, the CEO of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, alleging that he violated state law by posting the message slamming the Democrats.
The posting, the article said, was also “false and misleading,” according to the lawsuit filed by Lincoln attorney Vince Powers, a former head of the Nebraska Democratic Party, on behalf of a Lincoln woman, Kay Siebler.
Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr., a Democrat, the Food Bank for the Heartland, Community Alliance, and other Omaha city leaders have asked for food and monetary donations ahead of SNAP benefits being shut off.
Nebraska Examiner Reporter Paul Hammel contributed to this report.