The Health and Human Services Department is adding back a majority of the positions it slashed last year, with the head of the agency telling lawmakers on Tuesday the hiring spree is necessary to conduct its work.
Secretary Robert Kennedy made the comments despite also telling a panel of the Senate Appropriations Committee there was no degradation in the quality of service after HHS cut 20,000 employees in 2025. The department pushed out the employees because it had grown too much during the Biden administration, he said, though it is now going through a “rightsizing.”
“I do not,” Kennedy said, when asked if HHS had suffered in any way from last year’s staffing cuts. “We are now rightsizing. “We're in the process of hiring 12,000 to make sure we have people to do every job.”
HHS issued 10,000 reductions in force last April and cut an equal number of employees through various incentives and attrition programs. It has since hired back a small fraction of those it laid off. Some of those who remain laid off are still seeking reversal of the RIFs through various lawsuits.
The secretary suggested the cuts were necessary not just because of previous growth, but also due to HHS’ failures. Chronic disease had increased in the United States for an extended period, he said, which demonstrated the department required new staff.
Federal agencies are statutorily prohibited from hiring staff to fill positions previously filled by employees who were laid off. Legal experts warned ahead...
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