Furloughed SBA Employees Use Auto‑Replies Blaming Senate Democrats as Shutdown Halts Loan Services
During the government shutdown, furloughed Small Business Administration employees set automated out‑of‑office email replies blaming "Senate Democrats" for blocking H.R. 5371 and halting loan services. An internal SBA human‑resources email circulated a suggested template and step‑by‑step instructions for the auto‑reply, which cited an estimate that about 320 small businesses are being prevented from accessing roughly $170 million in SBA‑guaranteed funding.
Politics
Government/Regulatory
Economy
🔍 Key Facts
- Multiple furloughed Small Business Administration (SBA) staffers set automatic out‑of‑office email replies that explicitly blamed 'Senate Democrats' for blocking H.R. 5371 and causing the government shutdown, which halted certain SBA loan services.
- The auto‑replies were used by multiple employees across the agency, not isolated to a single individual.
- An internal SBA human‑resources email, obtained by Fox News Digital, circulated a suggested automatic‑response template and provided step‑by‑step instructions for setting it up.
- The auto‑reply text cited an estimate that about 320 small businesses are being prevented from accessing roughly $170 million in SBA‑guaranteed funding because of the shutdown.
- The messages explicitly linked the halted loan services and the inability of businesses to access funding to the failure to pass H.R. 5371 and attributed responsibility to Senate Democrats.
- Reporting of these details comes from Fox News' coverage of the internal HR email and the auto‑replies.
📍 Contextual Background
- The United States federal government entered a partial shutdown on 2025-10-01 after the midnight funding deadline passed with Democrats and Republicans failing to agree on a funding bill.
📰 Sources (2)
Furloughed SBA staffers unleash on Democrats for shutdown in searing auto-replies
New information:
- Multiple furloughed SBA staffers set automatic out‑of‑office email replies that explicitly blame 'Senate Democrats' for blocking H.R. 5371 and causing the shutdown.
- An internal SBA human‑resources email (obtained by Fox News Digital) circulated a suggested automatic‑response template and step‑by‑step instructions for setting it up.
- The auto‑reply text cited an estimate that 320 small businesses are being prevented from accessing about $170 million in SBA‑guaranteed funding.