Health Department Primarily Cut Jobs at FDA, CDC: Senate Report

Minority staffers on the Senate Health Committee also found that $815 million in National Institutes of Health grants have been terminated.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a news conference at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington on April 16, 2025. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Most federal health employees fired in the spring worked for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a new report from Democrats on a Senate panel.

Some 2,519 FDA employees and 2,473 CDC employees were fired as part of the reduction in force announced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Senate Health Committee minority report released on May 13 said.

Another 1,312 employees from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were terminated, according to the report, which cited the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The remaining 2,117 terminations affected other divisions within the agency, such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

HHS divisions have been referring requests for comment to their parent agency, which did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

The report was released by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the ranking member of the Senate Health Committee.

Kennedy said in March that HHS would be overhauled, with some 10,000 workers fired and 28 divisions being narrowed to 15. He said the reorganization was aimed at making the sprawling agency more effective and efficient.

HHS had said that the FDA would fire about 3,500 workers, that the CDC would fire about 2,400 workers, and that the NIH would fire about 300 workers.

An HHS spokesperson said previously that roughly 10,000 workers were provided with notices of termination on April 1, but the agency has declined to provide a breakdown of terminations by division.

Kennedy had later said that some terminations were mistakes and that an unspecified number of employees who were fired were being brought back.

In total, HHS fired 8,421 employees in the reduction in force, according to the new report.

Sanders said that the “arbitrary firings of HHS workers are already threatening the health and well-being of tens of millions of seniors, children, and working families,” pointing to how the cuts have included a team that helped states respond to wildfires and other environmental threats, as well as some staffers who worked on a program that provides treatment for patients with cancer.

“The reality is that by reducing money and staff, the NIH will not be able to produce my treatment and it might cost me my life,” the report quoted one cancer patient as saying.

HHS said on the social media platform X that the report “is a politically motivated distortion that undermines the thousands of dedicated public health professionals across HHS, who remain steadfast in their commitment to delivering results for the American people.”

Senate Health Committee minority staff also said that more than 700 NIH grants totaling $815 million have been cut, including a $5.3 million grant for a cancer center at Columbia University and $4.2 million in funding for a consortium that leads clinical trials on vaccines and other products.