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- 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.
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.
“We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said in a statement. “This Department will do more — a lot more — at a lower cost to the taxpayer.”
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, long the gold standard, 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.
