A new report claims that President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing an executive order to potentially fire thousands of federal employees at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. However, the White House has denied the report.
Sources familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal that the Trump administration’s potential executive order would require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other federal health agencies to reduce employees by a certain percentage.
Sources with information regarding the potential executive order told The Wall Street Journal that officials have been instructed to prepare lists of probationary workers with essential roles that need to be retained and lists of employees without essential roles. The outlet noted that probationary employees are typically employees who have only served for a year or served for two years of “excepted service” and are easier to remove than other employees.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the anonymous sources claimed that the executive order could be issued as early as next week following the Trump administration’s buyout offer for federal employees. However, the outlet noted that the details of the potential executive order have not been finalized and acknowledged that the Trump administration could ultimately decide not to issue the order.
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The Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Health and Human Services currently employs over 80,000 individuals and includes the CDC, the FDA, Medicaid Services, the Centers for Medicare, and the National Institutes of Health.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the White House denied reports of an upcoming executive order regarding the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal noted that the reports of the Trump administration’s potential executive order firing federal employees at the Department of Health and Human Services come after the Trump administration initially established a Thursday deadline for federal employees to determine whether or not to accept a buyout offer to resign from their positions.
According to Fox News, U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. issued an extension for Trump’s buyout offer on Thursday, giving federal employees additional time to decide whether to accept the buyout. The outlet noted that a hearing will take place on Monday regarding Trump’s buyout offer. According to The Wall Street Journal, over 40,000 federal employees had indicated they would accept Trump’s buyout offer prior to Thursday’s extension.
