News

Oversight Dem urges federal employees to ‘call me’

by Rebecca Savransky 01/25/17 12:53 PM ET

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) is urging federal employees to reach out to him if they have concerns about the policies made by President Trump’s administration.

“I want to make sure all of those federal employees who have anything they want to say to Congress, because there is some confusion as to whether they can talk to us, I’m telling you the law protects you and I will do every single thing in my power to make sure you’re protected,” Cummings, the top Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Wednesday.

“Call me. I want to talk to you.”

Cummings referenced a “gag order on federal employees” that he said had been “bothering him all night.”

{mosads}”Our committee, the Oversight Committee, is over all of government,” he said.

“And we depend a lot on whistleblowers.”

Trump banned employees of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from giving social media updates and speaking with reports, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The EPA ban came amid other reports of staffers at other agencies being restricted from interaction with members of Congress or the general public.

BuzzFeed reported Tuesday that the Department of Agriculture instituted a similar ban, telling its employees not to distribute information about research papers or to post on Twitter under the agency’s name. The news outlet later reported that the USDA ban had been lifted.

A Tuesday report in the Huffington Post also said agency employees under the Department of Health and Human Services were told not to speak to public officials.