HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long been a critic of the food industry encouraging Americans to eat less produced foods. (Getty/iStock)
According to the HHS, the layoffs "will save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year" and "streamline" functions of the department while ensuring that essential services like Medicare and Medicaid continue without disruption. The announcement of the layoffs came last week.
The HHS oversees several major agencies that will likely see some sort of restructuring: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Administration for Community Living (ACL), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
"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," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a statement. "This Department will do more – a lot more – at a lower cost to the taxpayer."
HOSPITALS WARNED THEY MUST PROTECT CHILDREN FROM CHEMICAL AND SURGICAL MUTILATION: HHS AGENCY MEMO
Now-HHS Secretary Kennedy is seen here in Senate testimony. (Getty Images)
The Associated Press reported Tuesday morning there were hundreds of federal health employees wrapped around the HHS building in two lines to find out whether they still had a job.
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Mass layoffs reportedly began Tuesday in Health and Human Services agencies as part of the department's "restructuring" to align with President Donald Trump's executive order. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf wrote in a LinkedIn Post Tuesday morning that the "FDA as we've known it is finished," adding that "most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed."
"I believe that history will see this a huge mistake. I will be fad if I'm proven wrong, but even then there is no good reason to treat people this way. It will be interesting to hear from the new leadership how they plan to put ‘Humpty Dumpty’ back together again," Califf wrote.
Jamie Joseph is a U.S. Politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering transgender and culture issues, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, and stateside legislative developments.
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