Nebraska woman sues Nebraska DHHS over partisan message on website homepage

A partisan message about the ongoing federal government shutdown posted this week on the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services webpage caused some fiery concerns and a legal complaint.

On Thursday, a message on the homepage appeared saying, “Due to a failure by Democrats in the U.S. Senate to pass a clean funding bill, resulting in a federal government shutdown, SNAP benefits that many Nebraska families and kids depend on are now unavailable in November. Sadly, there is a wealth of misinformation coming from Senate Democrats. This shutdown was absolutely preventable. DHHS urges members to approve a clean funding bill and stop using Nebraska’s most vulnerable people for political leverage.”

Later, the notice was altered with quotation marks added in attributing the statement to Republican Gov. Jim Pillen. The message is the latest partisan finger-pointing during the ongoing federal government shutdown, which has now lasted one month. According to research conducted by Harvest Public Media, Nebraska is the only state that has Republican partisan language about the shutdown posted to state websites. Several other states, such as California and Illinois, have posted partisan messages blaming the Trump administration for the SNAP pause.

Vince Powers, who used to chair the Nebraska Democratic Party, filed a lawsuit on behalf of Kay Siebler, an English professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

They argue that Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services CEO Steve Corsi violated a Nebraska state statute that “prohibits a public official or a public employee using public resources or funds for the purpose of campaigning for or against the nomination or election of a candidate for political office or for other political activities.”

“Steve Corsi is breaking the law,” Powers said. “It would be terrible, regardless of political party, if the government could violate the law and start putting partisan messages on all the various websites. The taxpayers pay for those websites.”

In the lawsuit, Powers argues the partisan message on the DHHS website “aids Senator Pete Ricketts’ campaign as he is a Republican and it aids and promotes all Republicans running for political office in November 2026, if they are running against a member of the Democratic Party.”

Powers said if actions like these partisan postings continue, it could snowball into a regular occurrence with more campaign-like messages.

“For example, in Omaha’s second congressional district, they could say, ‘Vote for Brinker Harding,’” Powers said. “Quotation marks don’t neuter a statute. Dr. Corsi said at his legislative confirmation hearing that he would be fighting for all Nebraskans. He’s not. He’s fighting only for Republicans to get elected.”

Pillen’s office has not responded to a request for comment.

The federal shutdown began in early October, when most Senate Democrats refused to vote for a short-term measure to keep the federal government open. Party leaders argued they wanted to negotiate enhanced tax credits for Affordable Care Act premiums, which are set to expire this year. Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, said they aren’t in favor of negotiating the tax credits, nor other health insurance-related changes made in President Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill passed over the summer.

The Trump administration has said “the well has run dry” for SNAP benefits amid the federal government shutdown. Around 42 million Americans rely on federal food assistance. According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly 75,000 Nebraska households participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.

On Friday, two federal judges, in separate rulings, ordered the federal government to tap into contingency funds to partially cover the cost of SNAP benefits in November.

Molly Ashford contributed to this report.