19 states sue RFK Jr., Trump administration for overhauling HHS and staff cut
19 states sue RFK Jr., Trump administration for overhauling HHS and staff cuts
USA TODAY
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New York Attorney General Letitia James and 18 other Democratic state attorneys general are filing a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to overhaul the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by shrinking its size and laying off employee who oversee the nation’s food and health care systems.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in March announced a major restructuring plan including the consolidation of divisions from 28 to 15 and elimination of 20,000 full-time employees, saying it would save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year.
In a statement on May 5, James said the states’ lawsuit in Rhode Island U.S. district court takes aim at Kennedy Jr.’s “reckless, irrational, and dangerous” efforts that erase decades of public health progress and leaves the federal government “unable to execute many of its most vital functions.” It also decried the federal employees at HHS who were locked out of their work emails and computers on April 1, as well as abandoned experiments, canceled site visits and trainings and shuttered laboratories.MAHA: RFK Jr.’s MAHA movement is coming to a state near you
“This administration is not streamlining the federal government; they are sabotaging it and all of us,” James said. “When you fire the scientists who research infectious diseases, silence the doctors who care for pregnant people, and shut down the programs that help firefighters and miners breathe or children thrive, you are not making America healthy – you are putting countless lives at risk.”
The HHS overhaul includes cutting the number of regional offices by half, from 10 to 5. During the announcement touting the overhaul, Kennedy said HHS was “realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities,” which includes what he calls the “chronic disease epidemic.”
“We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl,” Kennedy said.
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The HHS cuts are part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s workforce optimization initiative, led by Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s billionaire adviser. Last week
