The News
The US Department of Health and Human Services plans to ax 10,000 employees, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced Thursday.
Combined with workers accepting buyouts, the cuts would eliminate about a quarter of the current department workforce. The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are most affected, while half of the department’s regional offices will also close.
The downsizing is part of a broad reorganization by Kennedy that also includes the creation of a new “Administration for a Healthy America,” aimed to realign “the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” he said.
Critics argue that the overhaul, combined with other federal funding cuts to research, undermine America’s public health efforts, arguing that the agencies need more support, not less.