By Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy, and Adam Beam
CDC layoffs
Democrats in Georgia’s congressional delegation, led by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, are asking U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to explain recent layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The letter described Kennedy’s decisions as “incompetent” and “foolish.” It notes that during the government shutdown, hundreds of workers received layoff notices only to be hired back days later.
“Your abrupt reversals of some of these most foolish mass firings do not mitigate the overwhelming damage you are inflicting on the CDC,” the lawmakers wrote. “But they do raise fundamental and obvious questions about the process, or lack thereof, informing your haphazard personnel decisions.”
Since the government shutdown began on Oct. 1, about 1,200 CDC employees received layoff notices. But 600 or 700 saw their terminations rescinded within days.