Mass HHS layoffs could disproportionately impact Maryland, comptroller says
Mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) could disproportionally impact Maryland, state Comptroller Brooke Lierman said in a letter.
In early April, HHS announced the layoffs of about 10,000 employees at the direction of the Trump administration.
The layoffs – along with another 10,000 employees who took early retirement or separation offers – shrunk the department to an estimated 62,000 positions, cutting nearly a quarter of staff, CBS News reported.
On Tuesday, HHS revoked some layoff notices for staff at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
HHS layoffs impact agencies headquartered in Maryland
Several agencies within HHS are headquartered in Maryland, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration, the Health Resources Administration, the Indian Health Service, the National Center for Health Statistics and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
"The employees of these agencies engage in work that saves lives and ensures communities across the nation have the opportunity to grow and thrive," Comptroller Lierman said. "They handle everything from ensuring our food is safe and communicating outbreaks, to conducting cutting-edge medical research and providing low-income energy assistance."
According to Lierman, the mass layoffs of these employees will put the nation at risk, making the U.S. less prepared to address national and global public health issues.
"The Trump Administration's idea of efficiency is giving the American people a government that doesn't function or provide the core services and protections that citizens expect," Lierman said.
She argued that the layoffs will also impact Maryland's economy and decrease revenue used to provide services.
States sue Trump administration over HHS layoffs
On Monday, more than a dozen states, including Maryland, sued the Trump administration after it announced the firing of 10,000 HHS employees.
The lawsuit claims that the layoffs impact "disfavored work and programs."
According to the lawsuit, the layoffs have cut states off from data and made it harder to access certain programs.
"By firing health workers, shutting down disease surveillance labs, and slashing critical programs, the Trump Administration is putting every Marylander at risk," Maryland Attorney General Brown said in a statement.
Maryland's federal workforce
Maryland leaders have said they are concerned about the impact of the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the federal workforce and cut federal spending.
Maryland has approximately 160,000 federal civilian employees who make up about 6% of the state's jobs. The state ranks second in the nation for the number of federal workers after Washington, D.C., according to Gov. Wes Moore's office.
In February, Gov. Moore launched a resource dashboard for federal employees in the state who are impacted by federal cuts.
The launch of the dashboard came just after the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) ordered federal agencies to lay off almost all probationary employees without civil service protections.
