Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced sweeping cuts to the department he leads, the latest step by the Trump administration to dramatically shrink the size of the U.S. government’s workforce and responsibilities.
Kennedy plans to cut 10,000 employees, according to a statement Thursday. Combined with other departures from buyouts, the reductions mean the agency will employ 62,000 workers, down from 82,000. The secretary also intends to consolidate the department’s 28 divisions into 15 and cut regional offices from 10 to five.
Related: Layoffs at HHS spark concern from providers
The changes will cut annual government costs by $1.8 billion, HHS said.
“We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said in the statement. “This department will do more — a lot more — at a lower cost to the taxpayer.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported the plans.
As part of the reorganization, divisions of HHS focused on public health, substance abuse, mental health and occupational safety will be combined into a new entity called the Administration for a Healthy America.
The division of HHS responsible for preparing for pandemics will be relocated to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 1,000 employees will be transferred there as a result. HHS said that the move would reinforce “its core mission to protect Americans from health threats.”
HHS said it plans to lay off 3,500 employees at the Food and Drug Administration, but those cuts will not include drug, medical device or food reviewers or inspectors.
Scott Whitaker, president and CEO of the Advanced Medical Technology Association that represents medical device companies, said in a written statement that it “would be good news” if employees working to approve medical devices are spared in the layoffs.
The CDC workforce will be cut by around 2,400 people. Narrowing the agency’s focus to infectious disease is a “prescription for disaster,” former director Tom Frieden said, noting that its efforts have saved lives from leading causes of death including cancer, heart attacks and drug overdoses.
‘Less Safe’
“The decision to hollow out CDC makes Americans and the world less safe,” Frieden said.
Around 1,200 more employees will be laid off at the National Institutes of Health, mostly in purchasing, human resources and communications. NIH employees help make sure grants are selected and monitored to ensure taxpayer funds result in maximum scientific progress, said Monica Bertagnolli, the medical science agency’s former director.
“We need a careful consideration of what loss of this capability will mean,” she said.
HHS employees are largely “competent, conscientious public servants,” Kennedy said in a social media video where he called the agency a “sprawling bureaucracy.”
“We’re keenly focused on paring away excess administrators while increasing the number of scientists and frontline health providers so that we can do a better job for the American people,” Kennedy said.
The probable effective date of the layoffs is May 27 and employees could be notified as soon as Friday, according to an email sent to a union that represents HHS workers. The email viewed by Bloomberg also stated that the list of areas affected “is still being finalized.”
The agency said no further job cuts are currently planned.
Kennedy’s rhetoric about trimming HHS staff started shortly after the election. In November, he suggested cutting hundreds of employees at the NIH. During a Senate confirmation hearing, Kennedy promised not to fire anyone who he believed was doing their job.
The agency already cut thousands of employees last month during mass layoffs of probationary staff who had been in their roles for less than two years, in most cases. Some of those employees were reinstated following backlash and court order.
In his role, Kennedy has control over agencies including the FDA and the CDC, giving him oversight over the approval of new medicines, vaccine recommendations and public health guidance. HHS accounts for about a quarter of the federal budget through its control over Medicare and Medicaid, the federal insurance programs for elderly and low-income Americans.
The move is likely to draw blowback from Democrats and public health advocates already worried about the scope of the Trump administration’s reductions, spearheaded by billionaire adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency effort.
Critics have warned that slashing federal health programs risk impacting food safety, vaccine development and the approval of medical treatments.
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