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.
In a statement, Ossoff said, “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.”
Under a Trump administration initiative to eliminate probationary positions, approximately 1,300 CDCP 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, per a federal official who was at the meeting. The official was not authorized to discuss it and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
On Wednesday, the Georgia senator criticized the Senate confirmation of the new Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., noting that 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,” 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 over 2,000 working outside the U.S.
The CDC has a long history of being 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 Personal Management (OPM) instructed federal agencies to start terminating probationary employees who have been in their roles for over a year.
While these employees have some job protections, it’s easier to dismiss them during their probationary period, which lasts one to two years depending on the agency.
