Trump administration moves to lay off HHS employees amid shutdown

Diving brief:

• The Trump administration has begun laying off federal employees, making good on its threat to further decimate the federal workforce in the event of a government shutdown, administration officials have confirmed.
• That includes at HHS, a department spokesperson said. They did not say how many workers were laid off or in which agencies, but said the downsizing affected multiple divisions.
• Layoffs are not typical during shutdowns and could further hamper operations at the massive federal Health Ministry, which has already lost thousands of employees this year.

Dive overview:

The United States is currently in the second week of a government shutdown, after Republicans and Democrats in Congress failed to reach agreement on the future of increased subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans. The stakes were high for a shutdown, with President Donald Trump and Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, vowing to use a funding shortfall to lay off more federal employees as well as “Democratic” programs.

“HHS employees in multiple divisions have received reduction notices as a direct result of the Democratic-led government shutdown,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told Healthcare Dive via email, accusing the Biden administration of creating a “bloated bureaucracy.”

“All HHS employees who received reduction notices have been designated as non-essential by their respective divisions. HHS continues to close unnecessary and redundant entities, including those that conflict with the Trump Administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda,” Nixon said.

Further reduction in force, or RIF, would further reduce the workforce that has been significantly reduced since Trump took office in January. HHS lost thousands of employees in an RIF this spring that is being challenged in court. Meanwhile, more than 32,000 workers are currently on leave due to the shutdown.

The decision to permanently furlough federal employees constitutes a significant escalation of normal shutdown procedures. Several unions have already sued the Trump administration for threatening RIFs before the shutdown.

Congressional Democrats denounced the layoffs on Friday. “A shutdown does not give Trump or Vought special new powers to cause more chaos or permanently weaken more basic services for the American people, and the simple fact is that this administration has recklessly laid off — and rehired — essential workers all year long,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement.