The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee has scheduled a hearing at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 10 to discuss the reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D., (R-La.), chair of the Senate HELP committee and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), ranking member, invited HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the April 10 hearing, noting that during his confirmation process, Kennedy committed to quarterly meetings with the HELP Committee.
The hearing comes in the wake of Kennedy’s announcement that he would cut 10,000 jobs at HHS and consolidate several agencies.
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Democratic lawmakers have been demanding answers from Kennedy about his plans. On March 31, Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), along with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn. 3rd District), sent a letter to Kennedy. Yesterday, Sanders, along with Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), Ron Wyden, (D-Ore.), and Chuck Schumer, (D-N.Y.), led 34 members of the Senate Democratic caucus in a letter demanding answers about the” tens of thousands of federal health workers that have been fired this week and the unquestionable impact on Americans’ health and well-being.”
Your actions continue to show a reckless disregard for the health and well-being of American families, most significantly for underserved communities,” the latest letter said. “You claim this ‘reduction in force’ will ‘make America healthy again.’ But firings of this scale will do the exact opposite,” the senators wrote. “If you do not reverse course, you will do irreparable damage to our nation’s human services, health care delivery, public health, and scientific infrastructure–making Americans sicker and leaving our communities ill-prepared for future threats.”
The Senators complained that Kennedy is dismantling entire agencies, including those focused on the well-being of seniors and people with disabilities and research to promote health care quality. The massive layoffs included employees from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Administration for Children and Families. “You have promised that HHS will do more for the American people, at a lower cost to the taxpayer, yet you have not provided anything to substantiate these claims, despite repeated requests from Congress to do so,” they wrote.
The layoffs began on Tuesday and were chaotic. Some employees received emails early in the morning, others didn’t learn about the terminations until they arrived at work. The Washington Post reports that some employees were told to contact Anita Pinder, former director at the Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights at CMS, with complaints about discrimination. Pinder died last year. In another case, the publication said that fired employees at FDA were told to contact an employee who left the agency last month.
Meanwhile, senior leaders, including top officials from the NIH, were offered an opportunity to transfer to the Indian Health Service (IHS), according to STAT. Job locations included Alaska, New Mexico, Montana, the Great Plains region, the Navajo reservation in southwestern U.S., and Oklahoma. They were given until Wednesday to decide on whether to relocate.
Most employees at HHS communications offices, including those who handle Freedom of Information Act, were also let go, STAT reported in a second article. Forty percent of the staff at the Administration for Community Living (ACL), which coordinates federal policy on aging and disability, were let go as part of the terminations, NPR reported. Those layoffs threaten the distribution of 216 million meals a year to older and disabled people through the Meals on Wheels program.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Kennedy wrote that the layoffs are difficult for everyone at HHS. “Our hearts go out to those who have lost their jobs. But the reality is clear: what we've been doing isn't working. Despite spending $1.9 trillion in annual costs, Americans are getting sicker every year. In the past four years alone, the agency’s budget has grown by 38pereent — yet outcomes continue to decline. We must shift course. HHS needs to be recalibrated to emphasize prevention, not just sick care. These changes will not affect Medicare, Medicaid, or other essential health services. This overhaul is about realigning HHS with its core mission: to stop the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again. It’s a win-win for taxpayers, and for every American we serve,” he wrote.