As Measles & Bird Flu Cases Spike, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Makes Massive Job Cuts At Dept. Of Health & Human Services

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced it is cutting 10,000 full-time employees across health agencies in addition to the 10,000 employees who have voluntarily left.

Employees received notices just days after President Donald Trump pushed to strip workers of bargaining rights at HHS and other government agencies. The layoffs will downsize HHS to 62,000 positions.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced last week a plan to remake the department, which is responsible for tracking health trends, conducting medical research, monitoring food safety and more.

The cuts come at a dangerous time when cases of measles and bird flu are spiking across the country.

“This is reduction in force action does not reflect directly on your service, performance or conduct,” according to an email to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff members.

The plan would combine agencies that manage billions of dollars for addiction services and community health centers across the U.S. under the Administration for a Healthy America.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) predicted the cuts would affect when natural disasters strike or infectious diseases. “They may as well be renaming it the Department of Disease because their plan is putting lives in serious jeopardy,” Murray said.

Last week, Kennedy announced in a video that he was restructuring the sprawling bureaucracy and said the departments, with a trillion-dollar yearly budget, had failed to improve Americans’ health. “I want to promise you now that we’re going to do more with less,” he said.

The job cuts would include 3500 jobs at the Food and Drug Administration, 2400 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1200 at the National Institutes of Health and 300 at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.