Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said any staffers in the department who are “working for the pharmaceutical industry” should “move out.”
Kennedy was confirmed in a 52-48 Senate vote Thursday, with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) the only dissenting Republican.
“I have a list in my head … we have a generic list of the kind of people that — if you’ve been involved in good science, you have got nothing to worry about,” Kennedy told Fox News.
“If you care about public health, you’ve got nothing to worry about. If you’re in there working for the pharmaceutical industry, then I’d say you should move out and work for the pharmaceutical industry,” he added.
DOGE is cutting the federal workforce as a whole, with probationary employees considered some of the most vulnerable. HHS has not been excluded from that. A Wall Street Journal report released last week said, “Agency officials have been told to prepare lists of probationary workers who have essential roles and must be retained, and of employees who don’t.”
The report also said the White House was working on an executive order to fire thousands of HHS workers and directed the FDA, CDC, and other health agencies to cut a percentage of workers.
The Office of Personnel Management directed federal agencies to fire all employees on probation, with some exceptions on Thursday.
“The probationary period is a continuation of the job application process, not an entitlement for permanent employment. Agencies are taking independent action in light of the recent hiring freeze and in support of the President’s broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government to better serve the American people at the highest possible standard,” an OPM spokesperson told the Hill.
Kennedy vowed to Make America Healthy Again in his position. After his confirmation, President Donald Trump issued an executive order matching Kennedy’s slogan.
“To fully address the growing health crisis in America, we must re-direct our national focus, in the public and private sectors, toward understanding and drastically lowering chronic disease rates and ending childhood chronic disease,” the executive order says.
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Kennedy, a former presidential candidate who dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump, thanked the president for the opportunity.
“I have prayed each morning for the past two decades for God to put me in a position to solve the childhood chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said, “and now, thanks to you, Mr. President, we will make this promise a reality.”