On top of other drastic cuts to federal programs, the Trump administration’s Health and Human Services Department on Thursday revealed plans to slash 10,000 jobs across the agency, including at regional offices.
The drastic restructuring will hurt the ability of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) to respond to health crises, including one current gripping the Lone Star State, said U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a San Antonio Democrat. “Texas is currently dealing with a significant measles outbreak at the same time the Trump administration has decided to cut thousands of workers from the Department of Health and Human Services,” Castro said in a statement supplied to the Current.
As of Tuesday, the Texas Department of State Health Services documented 327 measles cases in the state — its worst outbreak of the highly contagious disease in 30 years. One child has so far died in the flareup.
“Like the rest of the world, Texas was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which put a major strain on Texans and our healthcare system,” Castro said. “This senseless attempt to cut costs will lead to slower responses to public health emergencies, limit access to health programs for vulnerable groups, and ultimately increase healthcare costs.”
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the department’s job cuts in a video posted Thursday morning to social media platform X. He said the reorganization is part of a larger effort to “Make America Healthy Again.”
“We are streamlining HHS to make our agency more efficient and more effective,” he said in a caption accompanying the clip. “We will eliminate an entire alphabet soup of departments, while preserving their core functions by merging them into a new organization called the Administration for a Healthy America or AHA. This overhaul will improve the health of the entire nation — to Make America Healthy Again.”
Meanwhile, Kennedy — a prominent vaccine skeptic — has received public criticism for his handling of Texas’ measles outbreak, including downplaying the severity of the disease. He even suggested getting measles was the most effective way to combat the outbreak.
Though Kennedy’s plan includes gutting regional HHS offices, it’s unclear how HHS Region 6, which includes Texas, will be affected. The Current’s inquiries to the HHS Region 6 office went unanswered. The phone rang without being picked up.
The HHS Region 6 website also states that its leadership position is vacant.
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This article appears in Mar 19 – Apr 1, 2025.
