WASHINGTON (AP) — The Energy Department violated federal law when it tweeted about an opinion column by Energy Secretary Rick Perry urging repeal of President Barack Obama's health care law, a government watchdog said Thursday.

The Government Accountability Office said the July 2017 tweet was outside the scope of the agency's approved spending but did not violate a prohibition on grassroots lobbying or propaganda.

While improper, the tweet didn't cross over into lobbying because it did not directly appeal to the public to contact members of Congress urging the health law's repeal, the GAO said...