Update: Moments ago, the Department of Health and Human Services released its plan to "save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year through a reduction in workforce of about 10,000 full-time employees as part of this latest transformation."
HHS will "streamline the functions of the Department. Currently, the 28 divisions of the HHS contain many redundant units. The restructuring plan will consolidate them into 15 new divisions, including a new Administration for a Healthy America, or AHA, and will centralize core functions such as Human Resources, Information Technology, Procurement, External Affairs, and Policy. Regional offices will be reduced from 10 to 5," the agency wrote in the press release.
The overhaul is focused on HHS's new priority: Ending America's epidemic of chronic illness by focusing on safe, wholesome food, clean water, and the elimination of environmental toxins.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy stated, "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," adding, "This Department will do more – a lot more – at a lower cost to the taxpayer."
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The Wall Street Journal has obtained documents indicating that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is preparing to announce large job cuts to overhaul the nation's health agencies. The plan builds on broader cuts by the Trump administration and Elon Musk's DOGE to reduce the size of the bloated federal government that has plundered taxpayer monies for far too long.
Kennedy plans to cut as many as 10,000 employees from the department, adding to the 10,000 who have already left through voluntary severance offers since President Trump took office.
Documents reviewed by WSJ indicate that, when combined with voluntary departures, the planned cuts would reduce the department's workforce by 25%—bringing it down to 62,000 federal health employees. The plan would also halve the number of regional offices from 10 to 5.
WSJ provided more color on the cuts:
As part of the 10,000 workers to be let go, the Trump administration plans to cut: 3,500 full-time employees from the Food and Drug Administration—or about 19% of the agency's workforce 2,400 employees from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—or about 18% of its workforce 1,200 employees from the National Institutes of Health—or about 6% of its workforce 300 employees from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services—or about 4% of its workforce.
More broadly, the Trump administration's cuts to the bloated federal government and unelected bureaucracy—often called the 'shadow government'—are beginning to filter through the jobs data (first here) with continuing jobless claims in Washington, D.C, now at their highest level since 2021 (now here).
Jobless claims continue to rise across Virginia, DC, and Maryland - an area also known as "Deep Tristate" - where federal workers live and play with free money from taxpayers... Now the party is over:
In addition to a softening labor market across the Deep Tristate, the D.C. housing market is being flooded with inventory (more MLS data here).
Kennedy's HHS cuts, set to be announced later today, add to the mounting headwinds for the Deep Tristate, as cracks emerge in both the labor and housing markets.
