Health and Human Services

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FDA Is No Longer Testing Milk
FDA Suspends Milk Testing
Apr 23, 2025 11:45 AM CDT

FDA Suspends Milk Testing

Agency temporarily halts proficiency testing of dairy products, citing job cuts

(Newser) - Got milk? The FDA's quality control team currently doesn't. Citing job cuts, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday stopped proficiency testing of fluid milk and other dairy products, reports Reuters , according to an internal email. The move comes after the overarching Department of Health and Human Services...

Kennedy Wants Food Dyes Out of Thousands of Items

Petroleum-based additives would be eliminated by end of next year

(Newser) - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to announce a ban on certain food dyes that are now used in thousands of items, fulfilling a long-held goal of the Health and Human Services secretary as well as many health advocates. A statement issued Monday said food manufacturers will be prohibited from using...

FDA Halts Food Safety Inspections After Jobs Purge

Some worry about the 'reckless disregard' with which the Trump administration is carrying out cuts

(Newser) - With as many as 20,000 staffers let go at the Department of Health and Human Services in the DOGE purge, and with President Trump aiming to slash $40 billion from the agency, services are shuttering at every turn. The latest victim: a Food and Drug Administration quality control program...

Kennedy Gives FDA Staff Earful
Kennedy Gives FDA Staff Earful
Apr 12, 2025 1:00 PM CDT

Kennedy Gives FDA Staff Earful

First visit to agency includes pronouncement that the 'deep state' is real

(Newser) - Addressing an FDA staff whose morale already has plunged because of thousands of layoffs, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told employees that they're a "sock puppet" of the industries they regulate, the "deep state" is real, and they should turn in their bosses...

RFK Jr.: We Fired Some People by Mistake

HHS director suggests 20% of those let go will be reinstated

(Newser) - Some of the thousands of federal health workers abruptly fired this week will be reinstated, says their boss, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The secretary of Health and Human Services told reporters that the chaotic back-and-forth is a necessary part of the process being undertaken by Elon Musk's Department of...

Judge Pauses Plan to Hold Back $11B in Health Funding

Money was approved for state, local governments by Congress during the pandemic

(Newser) - A federal judge on Thursday put a two-week freeze on the Trump administration's plan to cancel more than $11 billion approved by Congress to send state and local health governments to fund public health projects. The restraining order was sought a group of 23 states and the District of...

Vast Layoffs Begin at HHS
Vast Layoffs Begin at HHS
Apr 1, 2025 11:43 AM CDT

Vast Layoffs Begin at HHS

An estimated 10K workers will be out of a job in 'bloodbath'

(Newser) - Robert Kennedy Jr.'s promised blood-letting at the Department of Health and Human Services began Monday night as the first of thousands of emails began hitting inboxes to let workers know they were either out of a job or were a candidate for reassignment. As the Washington Post reports,...

FDA's Top Vaccine Scientist Is Out, Citing RFK Jr.'s 'Lies'

Dr. Peter Marks says HHS secretary 'doesn't care about the truth'

(Newser) - The Food and Drug Adminstration's top vaccine regulator has stepped down from his role, and it's reportedly because he was forced out by the Trump administration via Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., reports the Washington Post . Sources tell the paper that Marks was offered...

Steep Cuts to FDA, CDC Workforces Announced

Kennedy says new round of 10K layoffs is part of 'dramatic restructuring'

(Newser) - Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the department's workforce is shrinking by around a quarter in a "dramatic restructuring." In a Thursday press release , Kennedy said 10,000 jobs are being cut as "part of this most recent transformation." Combined with...

Kennedy Has Group Remove CDC-Like Page on Vaccines

Children's Health Defense site had typefaces and designs used by federal agency

(Newser) - Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has instructed Children's Health Defense, an organization he founded, to remove a web page designed to look like the CDC's site and written to suggest vaccines might cause autism. The Health and Human Services Department issued a statement saying Kennedy had ordered...

Trump: SBA Will Handle Student Loans Going Forward

His announcement comes as agency says it will cut 43% of jobs

(Newser) - The Small Business Administration's 6,500 workers make up less than half a percent of the entire federal workforce, per CBS News —and that figure is set to shrink. The agency on Friday announced that it planned to cut its workforce by 43%, for an eventual annual cost...

CDC to Launch New Search for Vaccines-Autism Link

Agency cites Trump's speech to Congress

(Newser) - In spite of a body of scientific evidence that vaccines do not cause autism, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is launching a new study to look for a link. "As President Trump said in his Joint Address to Congress, the rate of autism in American children has...

Most HHS Employees Receive Buyout Offers

Email goes to staffers in disease research, food safety, Medicare and Medicaid administration

(Newser) - Thousands of Department of Health and Human Services employees responsible for researching diseases, inspecting food for safety, and operating Medicare and Medicaid have been offered buyouts. The staff members have until March 14 to decide whether to resign in exchange for a payment of $25,000, CBS News reports. The...

Kennedy Says HHS Will Send Measles Vaccine to Texas

Secretary has played down the outbreak

(Newser) - Leading vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been dismissive of the measles outbreak in Texas, now says that the spread needs to be stopped and that the federal response will include vaccinations. "Ending the measles outbreak is a top priority for me and my extraordinary team,"...

After 'Radical Transparency' Claim, RFK Jr. Backtracks

HHS reverses policy allowing public comment on its decisions

(Newser) - Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who promised "radical transparency" in the work of his department— a guarantee also made for him by President Trump—has proposed eliminating public comment on its actions. The change is included in a document placed Friday in the Federal Register,...

LGBTQ Activists Call New HHS Guidance 'Deeply Concerning'

Health Secretary RFK Jr. issues new guidance recognizing only 2 sexes: male and female

(Newser) - The Department of Health and Human Services has synced up with the Trump administration's push against transgender protections , releasing new guidance on Wednesday that states the US government recognizes only two sexes: male and female. The new "sex-based definitions" assert that "an individual human is either female...

Feds Giveth Accidental Pink Slips, Taketh Them Away

Chaos abounds as multiple federal agencies accidentally fire staffers amid DOGE cuts

(Newser) - Last week, the Energy Department had to scramble to rehire nuclear energy specialists for the National Nuclear Security Administration, after it mistakenly told hundreds of staffers at the agency they'd lost their jobs. That's not the only incident of head-count slashing gone awry throughout the government at the...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Confirmed as Health Secretary

Mitch McConnell is the only 'no' vote among Republicans

(Newser) - The Senate on Thursday confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Trump's health secretary, per the AP . Republicans fell in line behind Trump despite hesitancy over Kennedy's views on vaccines, voting 52-48 to elevate the scion of one of America's most storied political—and Democratic—families to...

Judge Orders CDC, FDA to Restore Scrubbed Web Pages

Official calls situation 'a double waste' due to time spent needlessly

(Newser) - Part of the Trump administration's purge of the federal government included the removal of thousands of web pages . Now, some of them might be coming back. A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration to put some websites...

White House Readies Order Firing Health Agency Workers

Plan calls for action to be taken after buyouts are final

(Newser) - The next section of the federal workforce to face mass firings by the Trump administration could be health workers. White House aides are preparing an executive order to fire thousands of employees in the Department of Health and Human Services, the Wall Street Journal reports. Other agencies involved in health,...

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