Here’s Where Trump’s Government Layoffs Are Happening—Medicare, FDA and More – Forbes
Source: Forbes
The federal government began the process of firing several hundred employees at the Federal Aviation Administration just weeks after a fatal collision occurred at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., as the Trump administration carries out mass layoffs at various federal agencies amid large-scale budget-cutting efforts.
The Trump administration has laid off thousands amid cost-cutting efforts.
Health agencies: Some 5,200 probationary employees across the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are being targeted for layoffs, according to multiple outlets, with Bloomberg reporting Sunday that employees at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Food and Drug Administration were also laid off Saturday evening (the number of terminated employees is still unclear). According to NBC News, around two dozen staffers from the CDC’s Laboratory Leadership Service—known as “disease detectors”—were among the people fired.
Department of Energy: As many as 2,000 probationary employees at the agency were fired Thursday, according to Politico, citing anonymous sources—though Bloomberg reports some department staff who work on nuclear security were asked back.
Department of Education: Some probationary employees at the agency—including those from the general counsel’s office, office of Special Education and Rehabilitation and Federal Student Aid office—were notified of their termination via a letter this week that cited their “performance,” CNN reported, citing an unnamed union source who claimed “dozens” of employees were let go.
Department of Veterans Affairs: The agency announced Thursday that more than 1,000 employees were dismissed “effective immediately,” including some probationary employees, claiming the personnel changes would save the department more than $98 million annually.
U.S. Forest Service: More than 3,400 employees were fired Thursday, including positions at each level of the agency, two people familiar with the firings told Politico.
Small Business Administration: Some probationary employees at the agency received emails notifying them of their terminations, before another email said the initial notices were a mistake, only to be notified in a third email on Tuesday confirming their firings, outlets reported.
Office of Personnel Management: Probationary employees at the office were let go Thursday, a union official with the American Federation of Government Employees told NPR, adding about 100 people were present in a video call notifying the staffers of their dismissal because they declined to take the Trump Administration’s resignation offer.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: The union that represents workers at the financial agency said about 73 of its members had been terminated, after the agency—which has drawn ire from Trump’s tech allies—was ordered to stop all work, though union leaders and the Trump administration reached a deal Friday that agency employees won’t be terminated while litigation challenging the cuts is still pending.
National Nuclear Safety Administration: An employee at the agency—which oversees nuclear weapons in the U.S.—told NPR the agency would fire about 300 of the agency’s 1,800 staff, though the Trump administration is now reportedly trying to hire some of those employees back.
General Services Administration: More than 100 people were affected by layoffs at the agency responsible for the federal government’s real estate portfolio, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Federal Aviation Administration: Hundreds of probationary FAA employees received emails starting late on Feb. 14 from a non-governmental email informing them they’d been fired, according to Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union president David Spero—and one unnamed air traffic controller told the Associated Press people fired included personnel “hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance,” just weeks after a fatal mid-air crash highlighted the shortage in traffic controllers.
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It’s not immediately clear how many staff have been affected by widespread layoffs across the Trump administration, which are separate from voluntary buyout deals offered to more than 2 million federal workers. Trump’s administration has reportedly made a number of other high-profile terminations: At least 17 inspectors general, the chief financial officer at the Federal Emergency Management Agency plus three other FEMA workers, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan, more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on cases against Trump, at least nine high-ranking FBI agents and the director of the Office of Government Ethics, among others.
Trump’s wide-scale job cuts are drawing criticism even from some Republican senators. S
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