A file photo of now-Rep. Kathleen Rice (N.Y.) in 2010. Rice says the Office of Personnel Management declined to respond to an inquiry unless she could get a Republican to co-sign it. (Photo: ERIC THAYER / Reuters)

A major government agency refused to answer a Democratic legislator’s routine inquiry unless she got a Republican to co-sign her request, the congresswoman told HuffPost.

Rep. Kathleen Rice (N.Y.) said she faced an unprecedented barrier when she asked the Office of Personnel Management about its training process and suggested changes that would help the agency recruit more cybersecurity workers. Janel Fitzhugh, OPM’s legislative director, told Rice’s legislative aide that she needed a Republican committee chairman to co-sign the letter in order to get a response.

It’s extremely unusual for a routine inquiry initiated by members of Congress to face a political hurdle, said former Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), who reviewed Rice’s letter. Davis served as chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee during his tenure in Congress.

“This is a vanilla letter,” Davis told HuffPost. “It’s not controversial at all. These are entirely appropriate questions. Congress has the right to ask these question and have these questions answered. Particularly on homeland security, you would hope this would be the one issue that could rise above the partisan divide.”

The apparent stonewalling is part of a troubling pattern. Democrats have expressed concern that President Donald Trump’s administration is encouraging federal workers to withhold information from them, The Washington Post reported in April.

Although federal governmental agencies are under the executive branch, Congress is charged with providing oversight and members of Congress send thousands of letters of inquiry to federal agencies every week. Most of these inquiries are routine and answered in an expeditious manner.

Rice and two colleagues, Reps. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), sent their letter to the OPM on May 1. Eight days later, a legislative aide in Rice’s office contacted Fitzhugh to check on the status of a response. Fitzhugh said the congresswoman’s office wouldn’t receive a response to the inquiry unless it was co-signed by a committee chairman. Given that the Republicans are in control of the House of Representatives, this meant that OPM was asking a Democrat to seek Republican approval before it would answer a simple inquiry.

Story continues

Rice offered to get a top Democrat on the committee to also sign the letter, she said, but the OPM said that would not suffice.

Rice’s aide asked Fitzhugh where the edict to require a committee chairman signature was coming from. She replied that Jason Simmons, the OPM chief of staff, had passed down the order.

“This is not OPM’s policy,” an agency spokesperson told HuffPost. “OPM has recently been engaged in conversations with Congressional staff and OPM will acknowledge their requests with written communication.”

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management building in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Gary Cameron / Reuters)

Before Simmons was appointed as OPM’s chief of staff, he was the Trump campaign’s North Carolina state director and the intergovernmental director for former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R). Placing a political staffer who has no federal government experience in charge of the office that manages civil service employees is quite unusual. The last two OPM chiefs of staff, Elizabeth Montoya and Kiran Ahuja, came to the role with extensive federal government experience.

Simmons’ appointment isn’t unusual in this administration, however. In March, ProPublica listed him as a member of the 520-person Trump White House “beachhead team.” Members of the beachhead team are intended to serve as the eyes and ears (or “spies,” as one congressional staffer put it) for an administration that is increasingly convinced that career federal government employees are trying to undermine the White House.

Neither Fitzhugh nor Simmons responded to a request for comment.

When told of Simmons’ previous experience, Davis said he was surprised that someone with no federal government experience was serving in a critical role that deals with the intricacies of the federal bureaucracy.

Although the language of Rice’s letter was routine, she says the topic ― cybersecurity at the OPM ― is critical. OPM essentially serves as the human resources department for all federal employees that quality for civil service status, which adds up to about 2 million people. Chinese hackers were reportedly behind a massive security breach at the agency in 2015. Over 21 million records were stolen, including highly sensitive security clearance forms, military records and millions of fingerprints. The breach led to multiple investigations, and Katherine L. Archuleta, who was serving as director of the OMB at the time, resigned under pressure.

The letter that Rice and her colleagues sent asked OPM to detail its overall training and testing policies, as well as its education requirements for cybersecurity jobs. Government agencies have a difficult time recruiting top cybersecurity talent because the compensation and benefits provided by the federal government often pale in comparison to what is offered by tech companies. Removing the requirement of a four-year degree, the representatives said, would allow for more successful recruitment.

Rice still hasn’t received a response to the letter of inquiry.

This article has been updated with comment from OPM.

Also on HuffPost

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

President Donald Trump raises his fist to the crowds during his inauguration after he was sworn in as the 45th president on Jan. 20, 2017.

Attendees line the Mall as they watch ceremonies to swear in Trump on Inauguration Day.

Demonstrators protest on the National Mall during the Women's March on Washington on Jan. 21, 2017.

Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 23, 2017.

Trump takes the cap off a pen to sign an executive order to start the Mexico border wall project at the Department of Homeland Security facility in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 25, 2017.

Trump salutes as he steps off Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland upon his return from Philadelphia on Jan. 26, 2017.

Trump, seen through an Oval Office window, gives a thumbs-up as he speaks on the phone to King Salman of Saudi Arabia in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 29, 2017.

Trump and his daughter Ivanka walk to board Marine One at the White House on Feb. 1, 2017.

Trump, right, shakes hands with Rex Tillerson, left, as Tillerson's wife, Renda St. Clair, looks on after Tillerson was sworn in as secretary of state in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 1, 2017.

Trump jokes with reporters after greeting Harley-Davidson executives and union representatives on the South Lawn of the White House on Feb. 2, 2017, prior to a luncheon with them.

Trump pauses as he talks to journalists who are members of the White house travel pool onboard Air Force One during his flight to Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 3, 2017.

Trump watches as Vice President Mike Pence, right, swears in Jeff Sessions, left, as U.S. attorney general while his wife, Mary Sessions, holds the Bible in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 9, 2017.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, shakes hands with Trump during their meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 10, 2017.

Abe, right, and Trump are seen in the presidential limousine as they depart from Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 11, 2017.

Trump speaks to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan after signing House Joint Resolution 41, which removes some Dodd-Frank regulations on oil and gas companies, during a bill signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 14, 2017.

Donald Trump, right, and first lady Melania Trump, left, greet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, as they arrive at the South Portico of the White House in Washington on Feb. 15, 2017.

Trump takes questions from reporters during a lengthy news conference at the White House on Feb. 16, 2017.

Trump applauds his crowd as he holds a "Make America Great Again" rally at Orlando Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Florida, on Feb. 18, 2017.

Trump shakes hands with his new national security adviser, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, after making the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 20, 2017.

Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway, left, checks her phone after taking a photo as Trump and leaders of historically black universities and colleges pose for a group photo in the Oval Office of the White House before a meeting with Pence on Feb. 27, 2017.

Trump holds up a pen after signing an executive order about historically black colleges and universities in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 28, 2017.

Trump addresses a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28, 2017.

Trump delivers remarks to Congress on Feb. 28, 2017.

Trump tours the pre-commissioned U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford at Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding facilities in Newport News, Virginia, on March 2, 2017.

Joseph Kushner holds up a toy Marine One as his grandfather, Donald Trump, holds hands with him and his sister Arabella as they depart aboard Marine One from the White House in Washington on March 3, 2017.

Trump, son Barron and wife Melania step off Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 17, 2017.

Trump attends a meeting about health care in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on March 13, 2017.

Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet in the Oval Office of the White House on March 17, 2017.

Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding health care at the White House on March 23, 2017.

Trump talks to journalists at the Oval Office of the White House after the American Health Care Act was pulled before a vote. He is accompanied by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, left, and Pence.

Trump listens during a meeting with women small-business owners in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 27, 2017.

DJ Gribbin, special assistant to the president for infrastructure policy, holds up a chart showing the regulatory steps to build a highway as Trump holds the mic during a CEO town hall on the American business climate at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C.

Trump, left, and Jordan's King Abdullah II leave after a joint news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 5, 2017.

Trump welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on April 6, 2017.

Trump receives a briefing on the Syria military strike from his national security team including a video teleconference with Secretary of Defense Gen. James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford on April 6, 2017, in a secured location at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.