-
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced sweeping firings at the Health and Human Services Department.
-
HHS will fire roughly 10,000 workers, per the announcement.
-
Kennedy is also creating a new agency that will streamline his MAHA initiative.
The Health and Human Services Department will lay off roughly 10,000 federal workers, part of a major reorganization led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The announcement is one of the largest mass firings to be announced since President Donald Trump took office and tasked each Cabinet department to work with the White House DOGE office and its de facto leader, Elon Musk. HHS’ announcement includes “doge” in its URL.
According to HHS, the firings will save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year. With previous reductions and early retirements, HHS will have slashed nearly 20,000 workers. In a video announcing the move, Kennedy said HHS had grown too large while not going enough to improve the nation’s health outcomes.
“HHS is a sprawling bureaucracy that encompasses literally hundreds of departments, committees, and other offices,” Kennedy said in a video posted on X. “You know how bureaucracies work, every time a new issue arises they tack on another committee. This leads to tremendous waste and duplication and worse of all a lost of any unified sense of mission.”
As part of Kennedy’s mission, the department will create an Administration for a Healthy America that will combine multiple agencies, including the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, into one entity.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be refocused on preventing epidemics.
Kennedy’s announcement comes shortly after Senate lawmakers confirmed the top two members of his team, FDA Commissioner and National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.
Read the original article on Business Insider
