Trump Vows to Shrink Federal Workforce Amid Widespread HHS Layoffs

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On February 11, President Trump issued an EO——directing federal agencies to engage in a reduction in force (RIF) and recommend elimination or consolidation of agencies or subcomponents of agencies that are not required by statute. The stated goal of the EO is to “restore accountability” through a “critical transformation of the Federal bureaucracy” and “eliminat[e] waste, bloat, and insularity” in agencies. The accompanying indicates the President’s desire to reduce the “size and scope” of the federal government, asserting bluntly that “there are too many federal employees.”

The EO directs agency heads to “promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale [RIFs], consistent with applicable law.” To achieve this, within 30 days, agency heads must submit a report to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifying statutes that establish the agency and its components and recommend whether the agency should be eliminated or consolidated. The Executive Office of the President, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) are excluded.

The EO prioritizes RIFs for agencies or components of agencies that are not specifically authorized by statute, with the staff of all agency diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives singled out, as well as agencies or other bodies that the President has closed or suspended, and nonessential personnel who perform functions not mandated by statute.  

In addition—and perhaps as another method to shrink the federal workforce—there are widespread that HHS has laid off nearly all probationary employees who have been in their current positions for less than two years. In total, press estimate that nearly 3,600 employees have been fired. The agencies that have reportedly been hardest hit are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where there are reports of 1,300 layoffs from CDC (nearly 10% of the agency’s total workforce) and 700 from FDA.

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