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April 1st, 2025

Federal Legislative Updates
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Federal Legislative Update

Last Updated: April 1, 2025

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reducing the total headcount at HHS from 82,000 to 62,000 in a matter of weeks, arguing it is essential to streamlining a bloated bureaucracy. The first group of 10,000 reduction in force (RIF) occurred through firings and employees accepting offers for payment through September. The second group was let go on April 1 along with other agencies. Specifically, the breakdown for health, education and defense are below.

Health

Early this morning, notices of reduction in force (RIF) were sent out to thousands of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its affiliated agencies. This is expected to impact 10,000 people. Several senior HHS personnel were offered reassignment to the Indian Health Service (IHS).

 

NIH:

  • Put on leave: Jeanne Marrazzo, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Diana Bianchi, Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Vence Bonham, Acting Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).
  • Eliminated: Entire offices of NICHD and NHGRI, and large parts of the NIH Communications, HR, & Policy offices.
  • Cut: Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, or BRAIN Initiative: Funding Reduced by 20% for FY2025.
  • G2G has met with NIH leadership in recent days who indicated they are having to make cuts of up 35% to grants and contracts and end certain awards entirely. Mentions of diversity anywhere in awards must be justified scientifically or face termination.

 

FDA:

  • RIF: Scientists at the Center for Veterinary Medicines working on avian influenza, antimicrobial resistance, and food safety, as well as affiliates of drug and device centers.
  • Eliminated: Communications Team at Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) which manages databases on drug approvals and the drug shortages list.
  • Left: Office of New Drugs Director Peter Nagy, and the Tobacco Center Director Brian King.
  • Let go: Julie Tierney, Deputy Director at Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Follows resignation tendered by Director Peter Marks, which is effective April 5.
  • Unaffected: Oncology Center of Excellence

 

CDC:

  • Overall: Cuts to divisions and posts not directly tied to infectious disease by name.
  • RIF: 1,000s of scientists working on injury prevention, birth defects, reproductive health, substance use, epilepsy, lead poisoning and environmental health, among many public health areas.
  • Reassigned Directors: Karen Hecker, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Jono Mermin, National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention and Kayla Laserson, Global Health Center
  • G2G is monitoring the situation at other HHS agencies including CMS and ARPA-H

EDUCATION & MUSEUMS

  • The Department of Education firings started on March 21 with 50% already occurring.
  • This follows President Trump’s Executive Order to essentially end the department on March 20.
  • The entire Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) staff was put on leave March 31.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

  • Communications released on March 28 and 29 move forward plans to reduce DoD civilian workforce by 5-8%. This may impact as many as 76,000 employees
  • Civilian employees at the Defense Department received an email reopening Elon Musk’s “fork in the road” buyout program for employees who opt to resign between April 7 and 14.
  • Revised organizational charts with proposed consolidation are required to be submitted to the DoD personnel undersecretary by April 11.
  • Hiring freeze is currently reducing workforce by ~6,000 per month

FY26 APPROPRIATIONS

  • G2G has talked directly with several members of Congress, including the House and Senate Chairs of the health funding subcommittees and senior Members of the Appropriations Committee – all indicating deference to President Trump and Musk's DOGE efforts, but also starting to speak up about actions impacting constituents.
  • The President’s Budget is expected in May. This the first step to kick off the FY26 appropriations process, but significantly later than the normal date of the first Monday in February. This is also later than the typical timeframe of March when there is a change in Administration.
  • The Republican House majority is expected to put together appropriations bills that align relatively closely to the president’s budget.
  • The Appropriations Committees’ FY26 guidance for Community Project Funding (CPF) and Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) – commonly referred to as earmarks remains unclear as some offices that manage such projects are being shutdown. However, individual Congressional offices are accepting requests with deadlines throughout March and April.

Reconciliation

  • Opposition to a new, compromised budget framework between the House and Senate could jeopardize GOP leaders’ hope to move quickly on assembling a sweeping reconciliation package encompassing President Trump’s agenda.
  • Several Republican Senators indicated opposition to direct cuts to Medicaid benefits that could total $880 billion as outlined in the House budget resolution.

Tariffs

  • On Wednesday, President Trump will unveil tariffs on a set of countries, including but not limited to Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, anyone that buys oil from Venezuela and on cars made outside the United States. It hasn’t been entirely clear what tariffs he will put in place.