In his long-winded joint address to Congress last month, Donald Trump ad libbed (at least I hope it wasn’t part of his written speech) about unleashing his next set of stricter tariffs on April 2, because he was too superstitious to do it on the first, April Fool’s Day. Apparently, he wasn’t too superstitious to designate that day for laying off 10,000 employees across the nation’s life-saving health agencies, including the CDC, FDA, and NIH. The gutting of these agencies’ workforces ran the gamut from staffers who keep operations running, to directors and experts. To make sure everything was done as efficiently cowardly and undignified as possible, the Trump administration, with HHS head RFK Jr. out in front, left it to security guards to confirm to employees whether they’d lost their job or not. Employees had to wait on unusually long lines to enter their office buildings as security guards cross checked ID badges against the fired list.
RFK Jr. claims to have a heart: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has described the cuts, which combined with other recent departures will reduce total headcount to 62,000 from 82,000, as essential to streamlining a bloated bureaucracy. However, they have included the ouster of top scientists overseeing public health, cancer research and vaccine and drug approvals, raising concerns about how the U.S. will respond to health emergencies, such as the ongoing measles outbreak and spreading bird flu. “Our hearts go out to those who have lost their jobs. But the reality is clear: what we’ve been doing isn’t working,” Kennedy posted on X, adding that the changes were necessary to focus HHS on its core mission of preventing chronic disease.
‘The FDA as we’ve known it is finished’: Departures at the Food and Drug Administration, considered the world’s top drugs regulator, included Peter Stein, the director of the Office of New Drugs in its Center for Drug Evaluation and Research division. He resigned on Tuesday when faced with being fired, according to a source familiar with the matter. … “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,” former Commissioner Robert Califf wrote in a LinkedIn post. “I believe that history will see this a huge mistake,” he wrote. “It will be interesting to hear from the new leadership how they plan to put ‘Humpty Dumpty’ back together again.”
They left the dirty work to security guards: In downtown Washington, employees were being informed by security guards that they were fired as they attempted to get into the Mary Switzer Building that houses several HHS offices and divisions, one employee on the scene told Reuters. “Dozens of people have been RIF’d this way so far,” the employee said, using an acronym for “reduction in force.” They included a deaf person for whom the security guard had to type on a phone the message that she had been fired. “So now it’s fallen on the security guards to tell people they’ve lost their jobs,” said the employee.
A ticket for their troubles: An FDA employee said 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, according to one source. People waited in line for hours not knowing what would happen when they reached the front. … The ticket, seen by Reuters, listed phone numbers for 10 different departments for employees to call to retrieve their “essential” equipment. … Fired staff received emails saying the termination did not reflect on their service, performance or conduct, and were being placed on administrative leave, according to an email seen by Reuters. One source said the leave reflected a union requirement for 60 days notice.
Among the programs we’ve lost entirely or that are severely impaired, are HIV prevention, TB prevention, lead poisoning prevention, water safety, worker safety, asthma & air quality, reproductive health. Oh, and did I mention that’s just a small list from only the CDC? But hey, at least HHS is now “streamlined” and no longer a “bloated bureaucracy.” Rachel Maddow had Dr. David Kessler on her show Wednesday night. He’s a former FDA commissioner and was appointed by the Biden administration to work on their Covid response. Dr. Kessler didn’t mince words, plainly saying that if these jobs aren’t restored within a week, the US is in serious, serious trouble for this generation and many to come. He also made a point that might actually work on the narcissism of the baby-fisted president, in pointing out that the administration has just laid off basically the whole network that saved Trump’s life when he got Covid in 2020. Let’s see if the argument penetrates that suntan-stained skull.
Photos credit: Getty, IMAGO/Francis Chung / Pool via CNP /MediaPunch/Avalon
I’m in NYS and it’s already affecting us on a more local level . We’re experiencing sudden cuts to our epidemiology department and public health. I work for the department of health and my position is partially federally funded so I’m a little scared right now.
I’m also on NYS. I wonder if the sudden cuts in health care spending will extend to red states, or if they’re just using this to inflict suffering on blue states.
Washington State here and same thing at our local health department.
I’m making my kids apply to colleges in other countries, and applying for a passport from a European country based on my grandparents’ birth records. I will stay and fight for this country, but I also believe in preparing for the worst while you hope for the best. What Trump and Musk are doing will negatively impact this country for generations.
My granddaughter (who is transgender) is trying to get into a language immersion program in Japan (she has always wanted to live there). At which point, once there, will try and further her education. She is petrified with what is going on in this country.
Our non-binary child is in their third year of university in Canada. They are spending the first part of the summer working on a research project at their university and the rest of the summer on an archeological dig in Europe. I do not see this child ever returning to the US. They are talking to professors about applying to graduate schools in Canada, Ireland and the UK. They flat out refused to consider a program in Texas where they had a very strong professional connection (the professor they were talking to completely understood their position and is now using them as an example of the upcoming “brain drain”).
I told my kid that I could and would stay to fight, but I had to know that they were safe and right now, that means not being home.
I know that Canada is tightening up on Study Permits – the number being issued is down at least 10% since my kid applied and was granted one. I don’t know what is happening elsewhere, but I suspect it will become more difficult for US citizens to get student visas, particularly for undergraduate work. For graduate work in desirable fields (medicine, engineering, etc) they will still be available.
All these cuts will ripple through the economy. So many private companies have contracts with these government agencies. that means even more job cuts. On top of that we’re going to have higher food prices and higher priced consumer goods. While I truly feel for every individual who is going to suffer for this, my cynical response is, “bring it on.” The only way to get through to the American people is through their wallets. If all the people who voted for Trump because of the “economy,” or didn’t vote at all, feel the pain of their mistake as quickly as possible, we may have a chance to stop this. Honestly, I want to see an entire econmic shutdown–people staying home from their jobs. Not out in the streets–that won’t be safe. Just home. We’re going to experience deep pain in America. It’s just a question of whether we’ll experience acute pain that’s short term, or chronic pain that lasts for a long, long time (knowing Americans, it will be chronic).
This is reminding me of Return of the King, when Denethor, steward of Gondor, goes crazy and sends his army out to fight and die in Osgiliath (I think–LOTR people don’t come after me), leaving his city utterly defenseless to the orc invasion. And then screams “flee for your life” when the enemy’s at the gate. We are so, so vulnerable to economic disruption, to disease, to authoritarian thugs, just because of one man’s ego and his racist doomsday cult. And we don’t have a Gandalf to rally the troops, or Rohirrim riding to our rescue. We are utterly, stupidly, terrifyingly on our own.
“I truly feel for every individual who is going to suffer for this, my cynical response is, ‘bring it on.’ The only way to get through to the American people is through their wallets.”
Agreed but I think that this will work on *maybe* 50% of his base but at least half will stick with him and follow him off a damn cliff. That “I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue” quote will forever ring true. A motivated entrepreneur could make millions opening up deprogramming centers for these people because they’re as brainwashed as your average cult member.
The fact that you worked in a LOTR parable as metaphor for what’s happening with the U.S. is absolute brilliance. Love it. Comment of the day.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
I was listening to a podcast yesterday & the person there said we SHOULD be out in the streets protesting, all day every day. That we need to pay attention to how people in other dictator-run countries ran their oppositions. And it was by being noisy & in your face & in the streets. Hunkering down at home does nothing for no one.
A lot of people now haver time on their hands so hopefully they and anyone else who can join them can get this organised. It needs to be vocal and visible, tell people why your jobs matter and keep shouting about it.
This really is the stuff of dystopian nightmares.
I’m afraid of protesters being sprayed with bullets, not just arrested.
All of this and his HHS layoffs will be terrible for food safety and the ability to combat communicable diseases like AIDS.
I cannot imagine being in my twenties right now. I remember being so broke back then–living paycheck to paycheck, choosing between paying my electric bill or having a decent dinner, living off of boxed cereal so I could make rent.
Nowadays young people will have to worry about AIDS and STDs on the rise, tuberculosis and poisonous food, lack of access to vaccines and lifesaving medicine—and all of that on top of a crippling recession and skyrocketing unemployment. I wonder if the young white men who voted for the orange turd will think i was all worth it…
I have these thoughts daily. I mean, we did worry about AIDS a lot in my 20s, but we had rational people in government and hope for a bright here future across many social justice issues. It’s the destruction of hope that really scares me for younger generations.
Just because animals sleep with their newborns doesn’t mean it’s right for humans. The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly advises against co-sleeping with a baby due to the increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome. As for letting us know she still takes baths with her sisters, just sounds like a comment to generate attention and she was successful.
You referring to the “Rumer Willis revealed that she & her sisters ‘all still take baths together’” story correct? I saw the headline on CB and decided NOPE, not reading that. That headline was enough. Gross, gross, gross…
That headline reminded me of Chelsea’s line in White Lotus: No drug in the world . . . and then, like you, I skipped that thread.
How TF are you going to scare people by telling them there’s harmful fluoride in our water and then fire all the people responsible for water safety…????
I picked the wrong month to stop drinking.
LOLZ at Airplane reference. Seriously, I picked the wrong month to . . . click a headline.
The American government is no longer “by the people” or “for the people.” In fact, from where I’m sitting, it actually seems like the billionaires in charge of our government want us to die. I wonder what their real end game is?
I thought it was: We the People get desperate enough to work ourselves to death trying to survive. But, even if the billionaires divide up the world between them, I thought they would still want healthy markets for whatever they’re trying to shill. At this point, I think Musk is just playing this in his head like video games — with New Zealand and Mars as back-up plans once he’s worked to destroy everything else. Trump is just enjoying signing things and being told that he’s a powerful, powerful, very good boy.
It does kind of boggle my mind. Even if Trump lacks respect and gratitude for all that went into saving his life, it’s wild to me that he doesn’t imagine, especially at his age, that he might need such state of the art medical interventions again at some point.
I wonder if they are using some AI computer simulation to make these cruel and inhumane decisions, or is it a ketamine/psychedelic drug-driven mania that’s driving this crazy train? Whichever way, there’s zero chance these horrific actions all combined doesn’t end up in potentially millions of Americans dying from preventable diseases, homelessness, and starvation. He killed a million Americans with Covid in less than a year last time. I wonder what the body count will be this time after four years.
A couple things come to mind right off the top: that 60-day notice is actually the law for RIFs, not just a union thing, & I’m pretty sure the 60 days of immediate admin thing is going to be challenged in court. Second is, it’s really unfair to characterize support staff as unnecessary or as less than the big deal scientists. Are those big deal scientists ordering their beakers & test tubes? No they are not. Are they sorting the mail (yes, actual mail still comes to federal offices)? No they are not. HR professionals, front desk staffers, mail room clerks, administrative assistants, all perform necessary functions. This isn’t cutting back on bureaucratic bloat, it’s an intentional destruction of our democracy.
A judge temporarily blocked this earlier this afternoon.
I hope the people who were unceremoniously fired were reinstated in the judge’s order. Imagine being made to wake up early, wash and get ready for work, only to be told you’ve been fired and didn’t need to bother… And sending an EMAIL(!) to say the terminated worker did nothing wrong? What kind of a recommendation is that? These Trump people are so classy.
1/2 the nation(23 states) are suing the DHS because of these cuts.