Trump Administration Lays Off Hundreds of CDC and Other Department Employees Amid Government Shutdown
Informed sources have indicated that the administration of US President Donald Trump has laid off hundreds of employees working in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other departments, after the country entered what is known as the government "shutdown." The sources added that employees received layoff notifications via email on Friday evening, informing them that their functions were now considered non-essential or "almost identical" to tasks performed in other sectors of the agency, as reported by The New York Times on Saturday. However, the exact number of laid-off workers has not yet been confirmed.
Nevertheless, it appears that the layoffs targeted more than 4,000 employees in seven major federal departments, affecting over 1,400 employees in the Treasury Department and approximately 1,200 employees in the Department of Health and Human Services. Notifications began arriving for some CDC employees towards the end of the day yesterday. Trump had announced on Friday that his administration was "starting a new wave of layoffs of federal officials" after the government shutdown, with the goal of reducing civilian personnel and pressuring Democrats to accept his financial demands, according to the newspaper.
