Staff Reports
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is getting a serious makeover that would make even the most dedicated bureaucrat cringe. Recently, employees within this sprawling government outfit started receiving pink slips, with the total number expected to reach a dizzying 10,000 as part of a grand overhaul. This initiative, which many are already dubbing a significant government diet, comes hot on the heels of an executive order striping federal employees of their collective bargaining rights. Because who needs a union when you can be “efficient”?
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is at the helm of this ambitious ship reshaping, taking the ‘biggest loser’ approach to an agency long considered a bloated bureaucracy. His announcement last week heralded a new era for HHS, which oversees everything from disease tracking to food safety. Under his plan, the chaos of addiction services and community health centers will be conveniently packed under a new umbrella called the Administration for a Healthy America. Anyone else getting visions of a well-meaning toddler trying to cram too many toys into a single box?
Layoffs begin at U.S. health agencies charged with tracking disease, researching, and regulating food https://t.co/mYL4SVSLiK
— Trace Cohen (@Trace_Cohen) April 1, 2025
The layoffs are particularly pointed. Around 10,000 jobs are on the chopping block, with a similar number already fleeced through early retirement buyouts. This would trim HHS down to a svelte 62,000 positions, which some might argue is an overdue reduction of one of Washington’s infamous “sprawling bureaucracies.” Lest anyone forget, though, not all are thrilled about the cuts. Senator Patty Murray is already spewing doom and gloom, predicting that such drastic cuts could leave the nation more vulnerable to natural disasters and diseases. Apparently, she believes that more government equals more safety. Classic.
The strain isn’t just limited to the HHS folks. State and local health departments have already begun to feel the pinch from the federal government’s decision to withdraw over $11 billion related to COVID-19 funds, which is bound to lead to more local job losses. Nothing like a government shake-up to set public health back into the Stone Age, right? Some officials are sounding alarm bells already, nervously suggesting that the health infrastructure could be overturned, and not in a good way.
While Kennedy touted a more efficient budget of $1.7 trillion, it’s hard to imagine that this radical overhaul aligns with the general public’s idea of “more with less.” Cuts to positions across various essential agencies, like 3,500 at the FDA, 2,400 at the CDC, and more, leads one to wonder whether Washington has lost sight of its actual job—to keep the public healthy. Yet while the fearless leader of HHS takes a sledgehammer to personnel, union leaders scream about the loss of collective bargaining rights, equating the executive order to a narrative of absolute terror for federal workers.
With hysteria swirling around the potential chaos following the layoffs and funding cuts, all eyes will be on whether Kennedy’s vision transforms HHS into a leaner, meaner public health machine or if it spirals into a health disaster that no government funding can remedy.
