Mass layoffs began Tuesday at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the Food and Drug Administration, the first steps in a plan to cut 10,000 jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
The department responsible for overseeing protection for Americans’ health, food and drug supplies and Medicare and Medicaid is also closing its internal agencies that are focused on older adults and people with disabilities. It’s also getting rid of its offices tackling HIV and improving minority health.
Staff had to present their badges at the building entrance and those who had been fired were given a ticket and told to return home.
More than 100,000 federal workers have already lost their jobs in the last two months as part of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk‘s efforts to shrink staffing levels in federal departments and agencies. Tens of thousands more are expected as more agencies implement their reduction in force, or RIF, plans in the coming weeks.
Combined with earlier layoffs and people who accepted early retirement offers, the total Health and Human Services workforce is expected to drop from 82,000 to 62,000 people.
Follow along for live updates.
Cuts will ‘harm’ Americans with infectious, chronic diseases, experts say
Infectious disease experts, including those addressing HIV, argued the latest HHS cuts will make the country less safe from infectious and chronic diseases.
“We cannot do the complex and serious work of protecting Americans from infectious diseases amid this chaos and confusion,” Dr. Tina Tan, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said in a statement.
The cuts extended to HIV prevention division in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Colleen Kelley, chair of the HIV Medicine Association, explained in a statement. The office evaluated interventions, developed treatment guidelines and targeted resources to those who need it most, said Kelley, a professor at Emory University School of Medicine.
“The randomness of today’s actions is reckless and will harm Americans rather than make them healthy,” she said.
– Eduardo Cuevas
GOP lawmaker tells fired federal worker ‘you probably deserved it’
It certainly wasn’t the viral moment that Mack Schroder expected during his trip to Capitol Hill.
The former Health and Human Services employee was among a small group of other fired federal workers protesting Tuesday, when he recorded an interaction with Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., telling him “Hi, I was a worker at HHS. I was fired illegally on February 14th. There are many people who are not getting social service programs, especially people with disabilities. Are you going to do anything to stop what’s happening?”
Banks replied, “Uh, you probably deserved it.” Schroeder asked him why, and the lawmaker replied “Because you seem like a clown.”
After the incident, Schroeder told USA TODAY that he found Banks’ comments shocking.
“It felt very childish to hear someone in a leadership position whose constituents rely on these programs to say that,” Schroeder said. “I hope a lot of people in his state see the callousness that he demonstrated.”
Banks’ office didn’t immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment. However, the senator is using an image from the interaction as a “#NewProfilePic” on his X account.
– Terry Collins
New ‘fork in the road’ offer for Defense Department employees
Civilian employees at the Defense Department received an email reopening Elon Musk’s “fork in the road” buyout program for employees who opt to resign between April 7 and 14.
According to the email, the department will oversee its own deferred resignation program through the deal. Musk offered federal employees who resigned full pay and benefits through the end of September.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday that the program was aimed at shrinking the Pentagon’s civilian workforce.
“The net effect will be a reduction in the number of civilian full-time equivalent positions and increased resources in the areas where we need them most,” the memo read, according to a Defense Department statement.
Tobacco prevention office takes a hit
The job cuts at FDA’s tobacco center came as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention made similar cuts to its tobacco control efforts.
Cuts to the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health and Global Health Center were “particularly concerning,” said Tom Frieden, who headed the CDC during the Obama administration.
The CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health aims to prevent tobacco use, especially among kids, Frieden said.
“No other part of the federal government tracks tobacco use, supports comprehensive action at the community level, and counters threats such as new forms of tobacco products,” Frieden said. “Weakening tobacco prevention is a gift to Big Tobacco that would guarantee more addiction, disease, and death.”
Mitch Zeller, who headed the FDA’s tobacco center from 2013 to 2022, said firings at the FDA combined with CDC tobacco prevention cuts were alarming.
He said he doesn’t see a clear strategy in place for how the Trump administration will prevent smoking and tobacco use, which remains the leading cause of preventable death.
“Every new administration should have the opportunity to come and take their time to reassess and figure out what things could be done better,” Zeller said. “But there’s been nothing thoughtful about any of this. It’s thoughtless.”
– Ken Alltucker
Firings at bird flu response veterinary medicine unit
The Trump administration has fired staff responsible for the federal response to the ongoing bird flu outbreaks, according to news reports.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported the Food and Drug Administration leadership and administrative staff at the agency’s Center for Veterinary Medicine were among those fired, though it was unclear how many people were cut.
In response to questions about cuts to the FDA, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson referred to public statements and a fact sheet from the agency and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Neither the statements nor the fact sheet addressed cuts to bird flu response, including with veterinary medicine.
Along with regulating consumer products, including pet food, the FDA provides approvals for vaccines and tests critical to the federal response to bird flu. The agency had worked in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to combat bird flu’s rapid spread in the U.S.
Federal regulators have issued pet food recalls after bird flu was detected in products. In recent months, several cats have died after eating raw food containing bird flu.
Bird flu has dramatically spread across the U.S. Nearly 170 million chickens have been killed amid outbreaks, including among commercial and backyard flocks, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The spread among poultry farms has shot up egg prices for American consumers. Dairy farms have also seen the rapid spread of bird flu.
Around 70 people have been identified as infected, mostly among poultry and dairy workers, CDC data shows. In January, a person in Louisiana became the first death from bird flu in the U.S.
– Eduardo Cuevas and Reuters
Trump views HHS layoffs as way to save taxpayer money: White House
President Donald Trump has delegated the authority to hire and fire federal workers to his Cabinet secretaries and views the layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services as part of the strategy to save money for taxpayers, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“The president has given the responsibility to his Cabinet secretaries to hire and fire at their respective agencies,” Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.
“You saw the secretary of Health and Human Services announced more layoffs today. This is all part of the administration’s effort for a mass reduction in force in the federal bureaucracy here in Washington, D.C., to save American taxpayers money.”
– Bart Jansen
Massive NIH gene study program spared most layoffs so far
A novel National Institutes of Health program that has analyzed the genes of about 150,000 volunteers survived the mass Trump administration layoffs on Tuesday, but the 20 people who do public communications for it have been placed on leave as a preliminary step toward being laid off, one official with the program said.
The federal All of Us Research Program shares the results of volunteers’ genetic analysis – information on things like how they metabolize medication, as well as their risks for certain diseases.
The communications division for “All of Us” was severely impacted by the reduction in force, with all of its communications staff being put on administrative leave, one NIH official who works on the program told USA TODAY.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are now looking for work, said the move will undermine the program itself. The official said that is because some of those put on leave worked on the “All of Us” website, outreach to program volunteers and its website and social media accounts.
‒ Josh Meyer
Anti-tobacco group slams ouster of FDA center director
Anti-tobacco groups blasted the removal of Brian King, who headed the Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco center since 2022. King was offered a position at Indian Health Services.
The layoffs at the FDA’s tobacco center are “deeply irresponsible” and will slow efforts to “protect kids and save lives from tobacco use,” said Yolonda C. Richardson, president and CEO of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an anti-tobacco group.
Richardson said removing FDA center directors “indicates a troubling move away from science-based regulation to protect public health.”
Under King’s watch, the FDA cracked down on illegal vapes and proposed slashing nicotine levels in cigarettes, most cigars and other tobacco products.
‒ Ken Alltucker
FDA ‘as we’ve known it is finished’: former commissioner
Robert Califf, a former FDA commissioner during the Obama administration, said Tuesday in a post on LinkedIn that the agency “as we’ve known it is finished,” and he predicted the loss of institutional knowledge would be “a huge mistake.”
“OK, i’m on a coast to coast flight, but i’m overwhelmed with messages about the firings,” Califf wrote. “The FDA as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed. I believe that history will see this (as) a huge mistake. I will be glad if I’m proven wrong, but even then there is no good reason to treat people this way. It will be interesting to hear from the new leadership how they plan to put ‘Humpty Dumpty’ back together again.”
‒ Bart Jansen
House Democrats launch probe into HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “lackluster response” to bird flu
House Democrats on Tuesday launched an investigation into what they called HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “lackluster response” to the bird flu outbreak.
“We write regarding the widespread outbreaks of avian influenza, or bird flu, and your recent comments appearing to minimize the health and economic threat that such outbreaks pose,” the lawmakers, including Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wrote in a letter to Kennedy. They also requested information about how the Department of Health and Human Services will address the outbreak and associated costs, including coordination plans with other federal agencies.
More: Government agency to review health and safety effects of Trump’s mass firings
“Not only has avian influenza infected 70 Americans and killed one, but this pathogen has killed more than 168 million birds since 2022 and is leading to skyrocketing egg prices for consumers as it spreads through poultry and cattle farms,” the lawmakers said.
The House Democrats questioned Kennedy’s proposal to let avian flu spread in an effort to create “immunity,” saying it contradicts the prevention plans previously announced by other federal agencies under the Trump Administration, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Agriculture.
This “strategy” also coincides with the emergence of a new strain of a highly pathogenic bird flu known as H7N9, which surfaced at a poultry farm in Mississippi earlier this month and led to the deaths of 46,000 birds, they said.
‒ Josh Meyer
Transportation Department makes buyout offer
The U.S. Transportation Department on Tuesday sent thousands of employees a new buyout offer to leave government service in exchange for pay and benefits through Sept. 30, according to Reuters.
The offer requires employees to decide by April 7. It exempts public safety positions like Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers and aviation safety inspectors as well as railroad safety inspectors, pipeline and hazardous materials safety inspectors and cybersecurity employees.
‒ Reuters
FDA’s chief tobacco regulator is out, amid sweeping cuts at the agency
The Food and Drug Administration’s chief tobacco regulator has been removed from his position amid deep cuts at the FDA and broader federal health agencies, the New York Times and The Associated Press reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Brian King, the leader of the FDA’s tobacco division, was offered a job with the Indian Health Service in Alaska on Tuesday morning, “a clear ouster from the Trump administration,” according to the New York Times. It said that under King’s leadership, enforcement efforts ramped up against illicit vapes that appeal to teens and that the rates of e-cigarette use by teens fell consistently.
More: E-cigarette makers hope Supreme Court will give Trump a chance to greenlight flavored vapes
President Trump “has pledged to stand up for people who vape and has accepted at least $8 million in campaign funds in recent years from tobacco companies,” the Times reported.
“It is with a heavy heart and profound disappointment that I share I have been placed on administrative leave,” King said in an email to staff, according to the AP.
Dozens of other staffers in FDA’s tobacco center also received notices of dismissal Tuesday morning, including the entire office responsible for enforcing tobacco regulations, the AP said.
‒ Josh Meyer
States sue over Trump administration attempts to claw back money
A group of Democratic-led states on Tuesday sued Republican President Donald Trump‘s administration to challenge its cancellation of $11 billion in federal grants allocated to the states during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More: Trump’s downsizing continues with offers for early retirements, buyouts at weather agency
Attorneys general and governors from 23 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in federal court in Rhode Island arguing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lacks the authority to unilaterally claw back funding the states had already built health programs around. States are using the grants to track, prevent and control infectious diseases, including measles and bird flu, as well as track mental health services and fund addiction treatment.
– Reuters
USDA makes early retirement offer
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering employees financial incentives to leave the agency this month, according to a Monday evening email sent to staff, according to Reuters.
Employees at the USDA who opt in to the Deferred Resignation Program by April 8 would be put on administrative leave with full pay and benefits through September 30, the email stated.
The agency is also offering early retirement to employees who are at least 50 years old with 20 years of federal service, or any age with 25 years of federal service, according to the email.
– Reuters
What do the mass layoffs at HHS mean?
The targeted federal agencies oversee how the nation pays for health care for older Americans and the poor. They also research infectious diseases and public health threats. The overhaul also will bring changes to the agency that scrutinizes the safety of prescription drugs, food and medical devices.
The Food and Drug Administration, which oversees prescription drug approvals and medical devices in the United States, will terminate 3,500 full-time employees.
HHS said in a news release that the reductions won’t affect drug or medical device approvals, but several experts told USA TODAY that the move will overload employees who survive the cuts leading to slow downs in services.
– Ken Alltucker and Adrianna Rodriguez
Head of vaccine agency resigns
Ahead of the layoffs, Dr. Peter Marks, the top vaccine official at the Food and Drug Administration, resigned. In his resignation, Marks criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has questioned the effectiveness of vaccines for years and promoted debunked claims that certain vaccines are linked to autism.
More: How Trump and Musk have sought greater control over federal employees
“It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” Marks wrote.
– Sudiksha Kochi
Cory Booker delivers marathon speech to protests cuts
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker is continuing what he promises to be a marathon speech on the Senate floor. On Monday night Booker took control of Senate floor to criticize actions Trump and Musk have taken in the first months of the administration. He was still talking after the noon hour EDT on Tuesday.
