Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) blasted the Trump administration over its decision to fire more than 1,000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) employees in a single day.
“Indefensible, indiscriminate firing of more than 1,000 CDC personnel in a single day leaves Americans exposed to disease and devastates careers and livelihoods for the world’s most talented doctors and scientists,” Ossoff said in a statement.
Under a Trump administration initiative to eliminate probationary positions, approximately 1,300 CDC employees, representing about 10 percent of the agency’s staff, are losing their jobs.
The Atlanta-based agency’s leadership was informed of the decision Friday morning, with a verbal notice from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a meeting with CDC leaders, a federal official who was at the meeting told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to discuss it and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.
On Wednesday, Ossoff criticized the Senate confirmation of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., noting Kennedy had publicly compared the work of the CDC to “Nazi death camps.”
“If this administration guts and gags the CDC, who is going to defend the nation from Ebola? Who is going to protect kids from measles? Who is going to save us from TB [tuberculosis]?,” he asked in his Senate speech.
The CDC, with a core budget of $9.2 billion, is responsible for protecting Americans from health threats, including outbreaks. Prior to the cuts, the agency had 13,000 employees, with more than 2,000 working outside the U.S.
The CDC has a long history as a respected global leader in disease control and a trusted source of health information, due in part to its team of leading international health experts.
On Thursday, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) instructed federal agencies to start terminating probationary employees who have been in their roles for more than a year.
While these employees have some job protections, it’s easier to dismiss them during their probationary period, which lasts up to two years, depending on the agency.
