'Infuriating': Veterans rip Trump admin's partisan 'lawbreaking' language in VA newsletter

Veterans are outraged after a weekly government newsletter intended to inform veterans about health benefits and resources took a sharply political turn this week.

Subscribers to VetResources, a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) newsletter, were surprised to receive an email Wednesday that departed from its usual content on VA dental coverage, spousal benefits and even discounts on motorcycles, HuffPost reported.

The message directly blamed Democrats for the partial government shutdown that began just hours earlier.

Headlined “How the government shutdown impacts VA,” the email claimed that a funding lapse occurred because Senate Democrats blocked a continuing resolution, per the report.

“President Trump opposes a lapse in appropriations,” the newsletter read.

“Unfortunately, Democrats are blocking this Continuing Resolution in the U.S. Senate due to unrelated policy demands.”

The email outlined several VA services affected by the shutdown, including career counseling and the GI Bill Hotline. It also noted that maintenance at national cemeteries and the placement of headstones would pause. The political tone caught many recipients off guard, including Army veteran Lynn Hauka of Texas, who called the message a violation of the Hatch Act, a federal law that restricts political activity by government employees.

“I was both furious and unsurprised,” said Hauka, 67, a former intelligence analyst for the Army and Defense Department, per the report. “I really would like Sec. [Doug] Collins to explain how he finds this acceptable. I would issue that challenge to him,” she told HuffPost.

According to the report, the newsletter’s reach is significant — the VA serves approximately nine million veterans each year, and the newsletter targets not only veterans but also their families and caregivers.

The controversy is part of a broader pattern during the shutdown, with similar messages appearing across multiple federal agencies.

Some government websites displayed language attributing the shutdown to Democrats, and employees at the Department of Health and Human Services were reportedly instructed to include that message in their automatic email replies.

Donald Sherman, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told HuffPost such tactics can erode public trust in nonpartisan services.

“An agency should never send the message that certain people are not welcome to avail themselves of government services based upon their political ideology,” Sherman said.

Hauka, who receives VA care for a service-connected disability, praised the quality of service she’s received in the past but said the political messaging threatens to undermine public confidence.

“To me, this just seems like one more little way to undermine trust in the VA,” she said. “It’s just trying to get us to accept lawbreaking and ethical lapses as normal. It’s infuriating.”