40% of federal workers who live in Maryland work at the Department of Health and Human Services
Donald Trump began purging the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today, with hundreds lining up outside offices in Rockville, MD, and Washington, DC, to find their security badges no longer work. Others received an email early Tuesday morning informing them that they were no longer employed by HHS.
Nearly 40% of federal workers who live in Maryland work at HHS – mostly at the National Institutes of Health or the Food and Drug Administration, both of which are headquartered in Maryland. The Trump Administration announced last week that it was laying off 10,000 HHS employees, on top of the 10,000 job cuts already proposed.
From Maryland Democratic Party Spokesperson Lindsay Reilly: “The cruelty seems to be the point here for Donald Trump. He seems excited to fire Marylanders who dedicated countless hours to stopping the spread of diseases, researching life-saving treatments, and making sure our food is safe. This is going to make Maryland and the nation less innovative, less healthy, and less safe.”
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:
- CNN’s Kayla Tausche: “At the HHS building in Rockville, employees describe learning they were laid off when their badge doesn’t work – and then having to do a ‘walk of shame’ by others in line. ‘Could they have picked another day other than April Fool’s Day?’ one tells me.”
- PBS News: PHOTOS: Hundreds of HHS employees wait in a line stretching around the building to find out if their job is gone. “Staffers waited for as long as an hour outside the health department’s Washington offices to get scanned into the building.”
- Federal News Network: ‘Humiliating and degrading’: HHS employees learn of layoffs when their ID badges stop working. “‘If their badge doesn’t work, they are corralled in front of everyone to wait for escort to their office to pick up their things…’ an employee said.”
- Fortune: 10,000 federal health workers are getting laid off, with many discovering they lost their jobs when their security badges didn’t work: ‘Is this an April Fool’s joke?’ “Some are finding out as they try to enter the building that they no longer have jobs. Laid off staffers are being asked to immediately turn in their badges and cellphones at the door.”
- CNN: ‘It’s a bloodbath’: Massive wave of job cuts underway at US health agencies. “Cuts at the CDC slashed divisions that work on workplace health and safety, HIV, injury prevention, reproductive health, smoking and violence prevention, among others. Despite Kennedy’s focus on chronic diseases, CDC employees described broad cuts at the agency’s National Center for Chronic Disease and Health Promotion.”
- NBC News: Widespread job cuts begin at health agencies. “Jobs were eliminated at offices overseeing the approval of new drugs, providing health insurance and responding to infectious disease outbreaks. A number of lesser-known divisions — including several focused on the safety of mining workers — were cut entirely.”
See also: MDP Statement on Trump Cutting 10,000 More HHS Jobs