The White House is preparing an executive order to terminate thousands of employees across federal health agencies, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The order would require staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services’ 80,000-person workforce, affecting the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Agency leaders must identify essential probationary workers to retain while listing others for potential dismissal, the Journal reported. Probationary employees — those with less than one year of service, or two years for “excepted service” positions — face easier termination than other staff.
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The White House denied Thursday that an HHS-related executive order is forthcoming. The administration could still abandon the plans, which have not been finalized, according to people familiar with the matter.
The move comes as a federal judge paused Thursday’s deadline for government workers to accept buyout offers. More than 60,000 federal employees had agreed to resign under the program before the court intervention.
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Any significant staff reductions could affect critical health functions, from drug approvals to disease outbreak monitoring and cancer research, depending on which positions are eliminated.
The executive order could come as soon as next week, after the extended buyout deadline.
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