HHS Job Cuts Jeopardize Our Health and Safety
Firing thousands of employees at the agencies that oversee our food supply, research cures for cancer and monitor disease outbreaks is shortsighted.
Firing thousands of federal workers impacts all Americans.
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/BloombergThe purge of thousands of employees across multiple agencies within the US Department of Health and Human Services will compromise Americans' health and safety. The indiscriminate cuts mean new parents might wonder about the safety of their infant's formula, the public must wait longer for better treatments for cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease, and we might not know if bird flu takes a more serious turn.
Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began receiving emails on Friday stating that they had been terminated. The messages informed employees, many of whom recently received stellar job evaluations, that their “ability, knowledge and skills do not fit the Agency’s current needs, and your performance has not been adequate.”