One of Trump’s biggest goals is to drain the Swamp. He’s well on his way to accomplishing this.
And the White House has put a bullseye on federal bureaucrats with this eyebrow raising order.
CDC Faces Major Layoffs
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is grappling with a significant upheaval, as at least 600 employees received permanent termination notices this week. These layoffs follow a recent court ruling that safeguarded some CDC staff from job cuts while leaving others exposed.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), representing over 2,000 dues-paying CDC members, reports that many affected workers are still waiting for their official notices.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the CDC, has provided little clarity on the layoffs.
On Wednesday, HHS declined to share specifics, instead referencing a March statement that framed the restructuring as an effort to make federal health agencies more efficient and responsive.
The AFGE has expressed frustration over the process, stating, “due to a staggering lack of transparency from HHS,” the union has not received formal notifications about who is being let go.
One of the hardest-hit areas is the CDC’s violence prevention division, where roughly 100 staff members face termination. The timing is particularly poignant, as these cuts come less than two weeks after a gunman fired at least 180 bullets into the CDC’s campus, k*lling a police officer.
In a blog post last week, affected employees lamented, “The irony is devastating: The very experts trained to understand, interrupt, and prevent this kind of violence were among those whose jobs were eliminated.”
The layoffs are part of a sweeping overhaul that began on April 1, when HHS issued termination notices to thousands of employees across the CDC and other federal health agencies.
The initiative aimed to streamline operations, but it has sparked significant backlash and legal battles. Many affected workers have been on paid administrative leave since then, barred from performing their duties during the occurence of lawsuits.
A federal judge in Rhode Island issued a preliminary ruling last week that protected certain CDC divisions. Those divisions included: smoking, reproductive health, environmental health, workplace safety, s*xually transmitted diseases, and birth defects.
However, the ruling left other areas, such as the freedom of information office, vulnerable to the ongoing cuts. Employees were informed that the terminations took effect on Monday.
The layoffs have disrupted certain public health programs, including efforts to prevent child abuse, r*pe, and teen dating violence. Some terminated staff were also involved in international initiatives, assisting other countries in tracking violence against children.
Their work helped lay the groundwork for a global conference in November, where nations discussed strategies for reducing violence.
Tom Simon, a retired senior director for scientific programs at the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention, highlighted the severity of the losses, stating, “There are nationally and internationally recognized experts that will be impossible to replace.”
After the CDC’s poor guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration has decided that many of their programs are wasting crucial government resources.
So despite the panic from some CDC officials, it’s likely that there will not be any devastating consequences from these cuts.
Stay tuned to the Conservative Column.
