Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, announced Thursday that some of the dismissed employees would be reinstated. The Department of Government Efficiency ordered the dismissal of about 10,000 workers.
Kennedy, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, told reporters that “some programs that were reduced are being reinstated.” “Personnel who shouldn’t have been cut was cut.” “We’re reinstating these people.”
Kennedy announced on March 27 a restructuring plan that would save taxpayers about $1.8 billion per year by reducing the workforce to around 10,000 full-time workers. The overall restructuring plan will result in a reduction of 82,000 full-time workers to 62,000 and the department’s divisions from 28 to 15.
While DOGE slashes federal spending by cutting thousands of jobs from various agencies, it is reported that many departments are rehiring people who were fired after their roles became necessary or the federal courts intervened.
The Journal reported that HHS employees received layoff notices beginning Monday night. They continued to receive them through Tuesday as they scrambled to determine who was cut and what government functions were delegated to these workers.
Kennedy announced Thursday that a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program that monitored the lead levels in the blood of children would be restored. He said that agency leaders were willing to make drastic cuts, even if mistakes were made.
Kennedy told the Journal that it was “always” the plan to correct mistakes caused by the DOGE cutbacks.
He said: “We’re going make 80% of the cuts — this is something we have talked about from the start — but we will need to reinstall 20% of them because we will make mistakes.”
