Health and social services were offered voluntary buyouts to resign from their job on Friday evening, according to a person who received the email and an administration official.
Friday evening, the agency of the agency received an unsigned email offering them a “voluntary incentive payment of separation”, with a deadline to respond for Friday, March 14.
The White House and the Ministry of Health and Social Services did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
In February, during an interview On Fox News “Ingraham Angle”, Secretary of Health and Social Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he had a “generic list” of staff members of the department that he would like to see deleted.
“If you have been involved in a good science, you have nothing to fear,” said Kennedy. “If you care about public health, you have nothing to fear. If you work there for the pharmaceutical industry, I would say that you should move and work for the pharmaceutical industry. »»
HHS supervises centers for medicare and medicaid services, which offers health insurance coverage for A significant part of the United States population. The agency also supervises the centers for disease control and prevention, which have undergone Substantial cuts to his workforce last month.
Experts have warned that HHS cuts could beische that Kennedy to advance his own priorities, especially make changes to vaccination policies and eliminate unhealthy foods.
“Cup staff are a challenge to which Mr. Kennedy will face,” said Dorit Reiss, an expert in vaccine policy at the University of California in San Francisco, after his confirmation from the Senate last month. “This challenge will be exacerbated by its lack of expertise on the general functions of the ministry, which could help him with an expert staff.”
The offer of separation of health and social services comes while Elon Musk and his Ministry of Government efficiency work to considerably reduce the size of the federal workforce through spreads in widespreadthe dismantling of whole agencies and substantial cuts to federal programs And grants.
This decision comes after President Donald Trump said at a meeting of the cabinet this week that agency heads – not musk – are in accusation of personnel decisions.
Trump, however, warned his cabinet secretaries if they did not reduce staff enough in their services, Musk would intervene.
“If they can cut, it’s better. If they don’t cut, then Elon will cut, “Trump said on Thursday.
The volunteer of the incentive separation Payment Authority, also known as the buyout authority, allows agencies which reduce or restructuring to offer employees flat -rate payments of up to $ 25,000 as an incentive to separate voluntarily.
Trump administration in January Offered approximately 2 million federal workers voluntary buyouts, an offer to the White House later said About 75,000 people accepted.
Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed.