By Skylar Woodhouse and Rachel Cohrs Zhang | Bloomberg
Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. introduced sweeping cuts to his division on Thursday, the newest step by the Trump administration to dramatically shrink the dimensions of the federal authorities’s workforce and obligations.
Kennedy plans to chop 10,000 staff, in line with an announcement from HHS. Mixed with different departures from buyouts, the reductions imply the company will make use of 62,000 employees, down from 82,000.
Kennedy additionally intends to streamline the division by consolidating its 28 divisions into 15, and reduce regional workplaces from 10 to 5.
The division will create a brand new Administration for a Wholesome America division. HHS says the adjustments will reduce prices by $1.8 billion per yr.
“We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy stated in an announcement. “This Department will do more – a lot more – at a lower cost to the taxpayer.”
The Wall Avenue Journal first reported Kennedy’s plans.
Kennedy, a distinguished vaccine skeptic with unorthodox views on many public well being points, has vowed to reshape the division and the federal authorities’s insurance policies, beneath what he has dubbed a Make America Wholesome Once more agenda.
In his function, he has management over companies together with the Meals and Drug Administration and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, giving him oversight over the approval of recent medicines, vaccine suggestions and public well being steerage. HHS accounts for a few quarter of the federal funds by way of its management over federal insurance coverage packages for aged and low-income Individuals.
The strikes are probably to attract blowback from Democrats and public well being advocates already frightened in regards to the scope of the Trump administration’s federal cuts, spearheaded by billionaire adviser Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity effort.
Critics have warned that cuts to federal well being packages threat impacting meals security, vaccine improvement and the approval of medical remedies.
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Initially Printed: March 27, 2025 at 6:55 AM PDT
