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Senators Press Nominee on HHS 'Blank' Operating Plan, Mass Layoffs and Transparency
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Summary
Senators told the HHS operating plan submitted to Congress used asterisks for many program funding lines and that tens of thousands of employees were fired; nominee Jim O'Neil pledged prompt information to Congress if confirmed and said the department must take transparency obligations seriously.
Senators on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee pressed Jim O'Neil, President Trump's nominee for deputy secretary of Health and Human Services, over what several members described as a lack of transparency in the department's operating plan and broad staffing cuts.
Senator Patty Murray said the department submitted an operating plan for fiscal year 2025 that left funding levels blank for hundreds of programs and that firing staff had eliminated capacity to respond to public-health requests. Senator Tammy Baldwin gave an example: the CDC's childhood lead poisoning prevention surveillance branch had been fired, leaving the city of Milwaukee without requested assistance.
O'Neil responded that Congress ‘‘absolutely deserves to have prompt and accurate information’’ about departmental plans and agreed, if confirmed, to take that obligation seriously. He said decisions about reductions in force (RIFs) involved operating-division leaders and that he supports reporting ‘‘every significant thing the department does’’ to Congress.
Several senators said they will follow up with written questions and oversight, and requested data on the number of employees fired, the functions affected, and whether clinical-trial staff at the NIH Clinical Center were among those removed.
