HHS Reduction In Force Begins

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services aims to cut 10,000 of about 80,000 workers.  This RIF should continue for about 24 hours, until some U.S. District Judge exercises his authority to countermand the President.  Article II of the Constitution is now obsolete in Washington:

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/01/kennedy-lays-off-thousands-across-the-health-bureaucracy-00262913

Thousands laid off as Kennedy and Musk take aim at health agencies
Overnight notices hit civil service leaders as well as the rank and file.
By Sophie Gardner, Ruth Reader, Lauren Gardner, David Lim and Chelsea Cirruzzo - April 1, 2025

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is making good on his promise to lay off thousands of employees across the government’s health care agencies.

Overnight, employees of the Department of Health and Human Services lost their jobs as part of a reduction in force that aims to cut 10,000 of the department’s approximately 80,000 workers. The cuts hit staff across the panoply of HHS agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health.

Those let go included senior civil service leaders, as well as workers handling everything from communications to worker safety to HIV prevention.

“This RIF action does not reflect directly on your service, performance, or conduct,” emails to the affected employees said.

The early-morning “reduction in force” comes after days of worry for the workers, many of whom were told to expect notices on Friday or over the weekend. The move was delayed in part due to tensions between the Elon Musk-led push to downsize the federal government and leadership at HHS that has felt left out of the decision-making.

The cuts are part of a much broader push, led by Musk, to make the government more efficient. Kennedy has embraced the push, promising in the run-up to his February confirmation as HHS secretary to make “corrupt” FDA workers he sees as too cozy with the pharmaceutical industry “pack your bags.” The agency regulates drugs, food and medical devices.

He also pledged hundreds of job cuts at the NIH, the largest funder of medical research in the world, with a budget of $48 billion.

On Tuesday morning, people showed up for work only to find their key cards didn’t work.

“I woke up at 5 a.m., heard my friends got the email so I went to the building to clear out my personal stuff before they shut down my building access,” said one laid off CDC employee. “I grabbed my diplomas off the wall and my favorite plants … just so demoralizing.”

Among those cut at the FDA was Peter Stein, director of the Office of New Drugs. The policy office inside of OND was also eliminated.

Another top FDA regulator, Brian King, the director of the agency’s Center for Tobacco Products, was placed on administrative leave, according to an email sent to his staff and obtained by POLITICO. He’s sought to curtail youth use of e-cigarettes.

“I encourage you to hold your heads high and never compromise the guiding tenets that CTP has held dear since its inception,” King wrote in the email to his staff. “We obeyed the law. We followed the science. We told the truth.”

Nearly every press officer at the FDA was let go, one agency employee said. The more-than-a-dozen workers fielded media inquiries related to the agency’s vast regulatory portfolio.

Also axed was the FDA’s Office of Strategic Programs, including its director, Sridhar Mantha. He co-chaired the AI Council at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. The council helped develop policy around AI’s use in drug development and assisted the FDA in using AI internally.

A number of divisions at the CDC were hit with layoffs, said two employees granted anonymity for fear of retribution.

Those divisions include the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention; the Global Health Center; National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities; and the National Center for Environmental Health.

An HHS letter to a labor union representing HHS workers said the cuts also hit the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the division of the CDC focused on worker safety. The letter said about 185 employees would be let go in just the Morgantown, West Virginia, location.

According to a notice sent to NIOSH employees, the reduction in force will take effect on June 30.

HHS did not immediately respond to questions about how many employees would be affected at other NIOSH offices, but CBS News reported yesterday that the total could be as high as 873, around two-thirds of the workforce.

NIOSH is slated to be part of the new agency that Kennedy plans to create – the Administration for a Healthy America.