Trump’s nomination of RFK Jr. to run Health and Human Services has resulted in CDC employees resigning in droves.
E.J. Dickson initially wrote in The Cut:
As the secretary of Health and Human Services, not only could Kennedy have ultimate authority to undermine the role of regulatory agencies in keeping children and families safe, it could also lead to brain drain within the institutions themselves. Rivera says she has heard from multiple employees at government agencies like the CDC who are âalready prepping their resignation letters.â âThey refuse to work for this administration,â she says. âI understand it, but itâs terrifying. Because we donât want to be in the position where everyone working at these agencies is anti-medicine, anti-science.â
Dickson updated in a post on X:
UPDATE: CDC employees are submitting their resignation letters in droves following the announcement that RFK, Jr. will serve as HHS head, a public health expert tells me. “They refuse to work for this administration,” she says.
HHS employees aren’t partisan. The people who are resigning are not doing so for political reasons. They are resigning because they refuse to work for an agency that will be led by a conspiracy theory who has likely killed people with his statements and doesn’t believe in science.
It is questionable whether or not RFK Jr. can get the votes needed for Senate confirmation, and incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune has already said no to Trump’s demand for recess appointments. RFK Jr. may have a better chance of being confirmed that Matt Gaetz, but he would be a disaster for the nation’s public health.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association