Twenty attorneys general allege that the recent workforce reduction at the Department of Health and Human Services is unlawful and could have potentially irreversible consequences.
A coalition of 19 states, along with the District of Columbia, sued several top health authorities of the Trump administration on Monday, looking to stop what they called the “unconstitutional and illegal dismantling” of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The states, represented by their respective attorneys general, allege that in the three months since he assumed his role, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “systematically deprived HHS of the resources necessary to do its job.” This, in turn, had “severe, complicated, and potentially irreversible” consequences, the lawsuit argued, specifically referring to missed drug review deadlines and hamstrung programs.
The lawsuit alleges that cuts have added offloaded costs to the states and harmed public health efforts like responding to a growing measles outbreak and tracking cancer risks among U.S. firefighters.
In addition to Kennedy, the plaintiffs also named several other top-ranking health officials as defendants in the case, including Susan Monarez, the acting director of the CDC and newly appointed FDA commissioner Marty Makary.
Kennedy in late March unveiled plans for a sweeping reorganization of the HHS, putting some 10,000 jobs on the chopping block. The FDA took the brunt of the effort, losing around 3,500 staff. Aside from these cuts, however, many HHS employees either voluntarily left or were forced to retire early.
“Secretary Kennedy refused to undertake this restructuring legally or carefully,” the lawsuit alleges, claiming that Kennedy himself had confirmed that he knew some 20% of the layoffs would be erroneous. Still, he decided to forego a careful review of the job cuts “because ‘it takes too long,’” as per the complaint. The plaintiffs called Kennedy’s reduction in force “arbitrary and capricious.”
“All told, 20,000 full-time employees—almost twenty-five percent of HHS headcount—would be terminated in a few months to save, by Defendants’ own estimate, less than one percent of HHS expenditures,” they added.
The state attorneys general are asking the court to declare Kennedy’s reorganization unlawful and to issue a preliminary and permanent injunction against such efforts.
While Monday’s lawsuit is among the most forceful responses to the HHS cuts, several others have similarly expressed concern about the reorganization, warning that it could curtail some of the Department’s most crucial functions, in turn harming U.S. innovation.
One of the most pressing problems stemming from the layoffs is their potential to endanger the FDA’s user fee programs. Implemented in 1992, these programs allow the FDA to collect money from companies that want their products reviewed—notably, the fees do not guarantee a favorable outcome—in turn providing nearly half of its budget.
But with the reduction in force, experts contend that these programs are coming dangerously close to hitting an obscure trigger mechanism that, when tripped, would prevent the FDA from collecting further fees from the industry. Possibly recognizing the threat this may pose to the agency—and, by extension, to public health—the FDA is now reportedly rehiring key staff involved in negotiations over the user fee programs.
