Trump’s CDC firings endanger lives and the economy

Mayhem at the agency fighting the world's most deadly diseases

Firings at the CDC are the latest in the ‘Trump-storm’ for government agencies.

In recent days, while much of the country’s attention was focused on events in the Middle East, something big happened in Atlanta, where I live. Something that endangers the health of people across the United States and around the world. That’s no exaggeration.

In its latest act of nonsensical mayhem for federal agencies, the Trump administration fired a massive number of people at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday night. They included people who lead the fight to protect humanity from some of the most dangerous diseases. Reports estimate that about 1,300 people were let go.

Then, in an act that has also become routine, the administration began to rescind some of those layoffs, saying folks were let go in error. It was yet another example of the super-organized, carefully planned governmental restructuring that the American people have gotten used to amid what I call the “Trump-storm.”

But rescinding some firings didn’t solve things. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that, according to the National Public Health Coalition, about 600 people remain fired.

Or do they? Now, a federal judge has temporarily blocked mass firings during the government shutdown. By the time you see this story, even that may have changed.

This isn’t even the first time the CDC has faced this kind of mess under Trump. In April, more than 2,400 employees were let go; in June, about 460 received notices that they were being reinstated, the AP reported.

In all the chaos, it hasn’t been fully clear which departments the Trump administration targeted. Reports cited layoffs at the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, the National Center for Health Statistics, the library, human resources department, and campus safety. It should be noted that in August, a shooter—apparently with grievances about Covid-19 vaccines—attacked the CDC and killed a police officer.

Two crucial points about these new attempted layoffs are easy to miss.

First, there’s nothing wrong with talking about the federal government being “bloated.” But this is not how any successful enterprise reduces its workforce.

When companies engage in layoffs, the successful ones are smart and strategic. They analyze units; consider the roles those units play; calculate the benefits and drawbacks of reductions; and more. The Trump administration, however, has been taking a wrecking ball to government operations, then attempting to pick up some pieces and cobble parts of it back together. This doesn’t work. When employees in the middle of important projects suddenly disappear and no one knows what’s going on, productivity plummets. And top talent no longer want to work there even if they weren’t slashed.

The second crucial point is the economic impact of damaging the CDC. The Covid-19 pandemic should have given everyone, across all political parties, a reminder: epidemics kill people and devastate economies.

Debates continue to rage over what precautions and steps were right. And public health experts say the CDC (under Trump in his first term) surely made some missteps, the Council on Foreign Relations notes.

But it also has a long history of important successes, improving the nation’s health. “Among the world’s preeminent health agencies, it plays a crucial role in fighting disease globally, conducting cutting-edge research, and acting as a first responder in crises such as outbreaks of the Zika virus in South America and Ebola in West Africa,” CFR points out.

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Future epidemics are a pressing threat. Vigilance against them is paramount for society. Agencies like the CDC should be honed, improved, and empowered to do better—not weakened or erased.

Just last month, the Milken Institute of Public Health at George Washington University ran some numbers that are helpful to look at now. It was analyzing a proposed budget that would have cut CDC funding by $5 billion and moved about $1 billion of that to other parts of the Department of Health and Human Services. The net result would have been a cut of $3.8 billion.

“Overall, state economies would lose $5.4 billion in their gross domestic products,” the analysis found. “The loss to state economies would be about 40% greater than the federal savings, as losses ripple through state and local economies. In other words, for every $1 the federal government saves, state and local economies would lose $1.40.”

Lynn Goldman, the school’s former dean, said the cuts would also “erode state and local prevention efforts and weaken the guidance and direction that public health agencies receive from CDC, thereby causing upticks in the costs of medical care, hospitalizations, disabilities and death. The ripple effects of these budget cuts will have real impacts on both the economies as well as the health outcomes of communities across the country.”

Did HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or anyone in the Trump administration take any of this into account before the latest mass firing? There’s no sign that they did.

This mess at the CDC is a powerful example of what’s happening to our government. Agencies that taxpayers fund and rely on are in danger—and the impacts could be felt for decades to come.

Josh Levs is host of They Stand Corrected, the podcast and newsletter fact-checking the media. Find him at joshlevs.com.

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