John,

Earlier this week Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. laid off 10,000 full-time employees from departments across the agency including the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Agencies overseeing Head Start, heating and cooling assistance, services for seniors and people with disabilities, and other essential social services were hit hard. These full-time employees are on top of the 10,000 employees who were forced out last month.¹

Adding confusion to the already chaotic firings initiated by RFK Jr and Elon Musk, RFK said that some of those firings were a mistake.² But as of Friday, it was unclear who, if any, of those 10,000 fired HHS employees would be asked to return.

The entire staff for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) was fired.³ One FDA official referred to Tuesday’s firings as “a bloodbath”.⁴

Health officials in the city of Milwaukee announced this week, that due to cuts at the CDC, the city has to halt its response to lead found in the city’s drinking water.⁵

Now, in addition to cutting staff who are critical to keeping our communities healthy and safe, the Trump administration is recklessly cutting funding being used to cope with the measles outbreak in Texas, substance use and mental health treatment, and public health preparedness around the country.⁶

Together, we’re fighting back against this administration’s gutting of essential agencies.

Rush a donation of $5 today to power our advocacy and activism, demanding Congress defend our communities and assert its Congressional authority by putting a stop to this madness.

This isn’t cutting “government waste,” this is a deliberate purging of departments and agencies that people in the U.S. rely on to live and help keep us safe.

These attacks on the American public cannot continue. Our coalition and supporters have sent hundreds of thousands of letters to Congress urging them to fight back against this authoritarian reign of chaos.

Donate $5 to fight back and keep up the pressure on Congress to defend our communities from Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s reckless cuts.

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Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ Widespread firings start at federal health agencies including many in leadership
² US Health Dept may ask fired staff to keep working, reinstate others
³ Entire staff responsible for utility assistance included in HHS cuts, sources say
⁴ ‘It’s a bloodbath’: Massive wave of job cuts underway at US health agencies
⁵ 'We'll make mistakes' says RFK as fired US health staff asked to return
⁶ Tell Congress: Take control of the power of the purse! Restore critical mental health services and $12 billion in public health funding to the states.