"We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. "We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic."
On the social media platform X, Kennedy acknowledged “this will be a painful period for HHS.”
According to a press release from the department, a reorganization of HHS offices will eliminate roughly 10,000 positions. An additional 10,000 will be cut through measures like buyouts, early retirements and the Trump administrations “Fork in the Road” severance offer.
With a current workforce of roughly 82,000, a 20,000-person reduction would represent a 24 percent cut in HHS staffers.
In an email to the American Federation of Government Employees union seen by The Hill, a representative from the Office of Human Resources (OHR) said the workforce reduction would primarily affect employees in “administrative positions including human resources, information technology, procurement, and finance.”
The OHR representative estimated the number of affected employees would be between 8,000 and 10,000. Notices to employees may go out as soon as Friday, according to the email.
Democrats and health policy stakeholders were quick to warn of detrimental effects of the cuts on the U.S. health system.
“Do you know what Trump and RFK Jr. are doing about the measles outbreak? They are ripping away funding Congress already provided to respond to the outbreaks. They're stopping public health work in its tracks, even as this outbreak is threatening to spiral out of control," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said
"What are they doing about the opioid crisis or maternal death rates or bird flu for that matter? More cuts and don't forget mass firings."
Former Obama administration HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra warned that the mass layoffs had “the makings of a manmade disaster.”
“Downgrading services for our elderly and our disabled, downgrading services for our mental health, downgrading our strategic preparedness and response capabilities – how can that be good for the health of any American?” Becerra wrote on social media.
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