The US Department of Health and Human Services has offered 80,000 workers voluntary redundancy, providing one-time compensation of $25,000. About this informs Associated Press.
It is noted that employees can apply for participation in the program until March 14. The proposal was sent to all agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The cut program was announced days before the department’s report to the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s newly created Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE). US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed the government’s plans to cut staff, saying he already “has a list in his head” of potential layoffs. He said some workers “made very bad decisions” about dietary recommendations.
Recall that earlier Kennedy Jr. already hinted at the intention of a significant reduction in staff, declaring his readiness to release 600 NIH employees engaged in biomedical research.
