Trump admin lays out who exactly was cut at HHS in face of 'Democrat hysteria'

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FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) still employs more people than it did in 2019, despite "Democrat hysteria" over recent cuts within the department's agencies, Fox News Digital exclusively learned. 

A senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital that there have been 6,000 departures from HHS since Jan. 20, Inauguration Day. The agency, however, still employs nearly 6,000 more people than it did in 2019, including more than 2,000 employees at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) relative to 2019 numbers, and 1,200 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Hiring at HHS ballooned between fiscal year 2019 and 2024, the senior Trump administration official said, with 17% more full-time employees by 2024. Fifty percent of overall jobs in the U.S. that were created in 2024 were indirect or direct government jobs, the official added. 

"Democrat hysteria about essential offices in HHS being culled - again, every operating division has either more or roughly stagnant headcount relative to" fiscal year 2019, a senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital. 

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed and sworn-in as the nation's 26th secretary of Health and Human Services on Thursday, when President Donald Trump also signed an executive order creating the Make America Healthy Again Commission, which is "investigating and addressing the root causes of America's escalating health crisis." The commission initially will focus its investigations into childhood chronic diseases, such as autism. 

News reports spread shortly after Kennedy's confirmation that widespread layoffs were headed to HHS employees, including within the CDC and FDA. The Trump administration is in the midst of working to streamline the federal government by cutting overspending and stamping out potential fraud or mismanagement, which has included mass layoffs at various agencies. 

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The head of the FDA's food division, Jim Jones, submitted his resignation letter Monday, according to various news reports, arguing the administration's "indiscriminate firing" of staff in his division will be a "roadblock to achieving the Secretary's stated objectives of making America healthy again."

"I was looking forward to working to pursue the Department's agenda of improving the health of Americans by reducing diet-related chronic disease and risks from chemicals in food," Jones said. "It has been increasingly clear that with the Trump Administration's disdain for the very people necessary to implement your agenda, however, it would have been fruitless for me to continue in this role."

Federal employees also staged a protest outside HHS in Washington, D.C., on Friday, while a cohort of academic unions around the country are rallying the science community to join another protest outside HHS on Wednesday, billed as a "National Day of Action."

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The Trump administration explained to Fox News Digital that those who were terminated over the weekend included probationary employees - who are individuals recently hired by the agency and still under consideration for long-term employment. 

"Not people carrying longtime essential 'institutional' knowledge," the admin official said of those terminated. 

The recent HHS culling over the weekend did not include key personnel focused on emergency preparedness and response within the Administration for Strategy Preparedness and Response (ASPR), the CDC and other divisions of HHS, nor did it cull research scientists at the CDC or National Institutes of Health, or frontline healthcare providers at the Indian Health Service, employees working on Medicare and Medicaid at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or those reviewing and approving drugs or conducting inspections at FDA. 

Additionally, employees working on refugee resettlement within the Administration of Children and Families were exempt from the weekend layoffs. 

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"Cuts we made at HHS over the weekend did not compromise health and safety of Americans," the admin official added.

Kennedy vowed during his Senate confirmation hearings that he would scrutinize the department's previous modus operandi, remove potential financial conflicts and ensure tax dollars were spent on both bolstering healthy foods for Americans, and providing "unbiased" scientific reports. 

"We will make sure our tax dollars support healthy foods. We will scrutinize the chemical additives in our food supply. We will remove the financial conflicts of interest in our agencies," he told the Senate Finance Committee in describing his goals. "We will create an honest, unbiased, science-driven HHS, accountable to the president, to Congress, and to the American people."

Both Kennedy and Trump pledged on the campaign trail to "Make America Healthy Again," including directing their focus on autism among youths in recent years. The recently minted MAHA commission will investigate chronic conditions for both adults and children, including those related to autism, which the White House said affects one in 36 children.

The commission is expected to publish "an assessment that summarizes what is known and what questions remain regarding the childhood chronic disease crisis, and include international comparisons," within 100 days of the commission's founding. Within 180 days, it is expected to "produce a strategy, based on the findings of the assessment, to improve the health of America's children," Fox Digital reported. 

Since Kennedy's confirmation, state-level lawmakers have introduced a wave of bills aimed at advancing priorities championed by Kennedy and the MAHA movement, including prohibiting junk food like candy and soda from school lunches and other bills aimed at amending state vaccine rules. 

Fox News Digital's Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.