NEWS: Senators Blunt Rochester and Gillibrand Demand Answers from HHS on Mass Firings that Imperil Primary Care and Maternal Health

April 17, 2025
Washington, D.C.– U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Education and the American Family, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), led 9 their colleagues in sending a letter demanding answers from Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the abrupt and unprecedented mass firing of Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) employees. HRSA is the primary agency tasked with improving access to health care for vulnerable populations, including uninsured and underinsured children and families. The letter was also signed by Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-O.R.), as well as Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-M.D.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
“On March 27, 2025, HHS announced a rushed and ill-conceived RIF in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order 14210, ‘Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative,’”the Senators wrote.“This is on top of the firing of seven percent of HRSA staff that occurred on February 14, 2025. These egregious staffing cuts have particularly decimated the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), which not only runs counter to the administration’s goal of elevating preventative care and reducing the prevalence of chronic disease but comes at a time when the United States ranks last in maternal health outcomes relative to other high-income countries.”
“Through the Health Center Program, HRSA not only finances critical health care services, but safeguards patients from low-quality, inaccessible care,”the Senators continued.“HRSA ensures that health centers comply with the highest health care standards to support improved clinical outcomes, improved access to services, and proper financial management. As a result of HHS’s actions, the ability of health centers to carry-out their critical mission of providing safe and accessible care is now in jeopardy, particularly at a time when the U.S. is facing a primary care workforce crisis.”
The full letter can be foundhereand below:
Honorable Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Secretary
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue SW
Washington, D.C. 20201
Dear Secretary Kennedy:
We write concerning the abrupt and unprecedented mass firing of Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) employees who serve vulnerable populations including children, seniors, uninsured Americans, and rural communities. Reportedly, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) used spreadsheets to slash entire divisions without fully understanding the critical functions that many of the former employees performed. Therefore, we request detailed information about who was fired, their specific job functions, and the measures you will implement to ensure that at-risk Americans do not suffer due to your Reduction in Force (RIF).
HRSA is the primary agency tasked with improving access to health care for vulnerable populations, including the un-and underinsured, children, and families. On March 27, 2025, HHS announced a rushed and ill-conceived RIF in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order 14210, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.” This is on top of the firing of seven percent of HRSA staff that occurred on February 14, 2025. These egregious staffing cuts have particularly decimated the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), which not only runs counter to the administration’s goal of elevating preventative care and reducing the prevalence of chronic disease but comes at a time when the United States ranks last in maternal health outcomes relative to other high-income countries.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has reportedly fired 40 percent of the Bureau of Primary Health Care, which oversees the Health Center Program. This program effectively closes health care access gaps by providing high quality, affordable primary medical, dental, mental health care, and low-cost prescription drugs. Health centers provide care to over 32.5 million patients at 15,000 clinics across every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin. Health centers typically provide a wider array of lifesaving health care services for diverse populations impacted by barriers to care, serving one in five rural residents, one in three living in poverty, and over 400,000 veterans. Of the 32.5 million patients served by health centers, almost one-third are children, and 11 percent are seniors. A strong health center network is integral to increasing primary care access for people at every stage of life.
Through the Health Center Program, HRSA not only finances critical health care services, but safeguards patients from low-quality, inaccessible care. HRSA ensures that health centers comply with the highest health care standards to support improved clinical outcomes, improved access to services, and proper financial management. As a result of HHS’s actions, the ability of health centers to carry-out their critical mission of providing safe and accessible care is now in jeopardy, particularly at a time when the U.S. is facing a primary care workforce crisis.
Combined with the Health Center Program, HRSA administered health workforce programs through the Bureau of Health Workforce are our largest defense against nationwide workforce shortages that are driving preventable deaths. HRSA is critical to adequately staffing health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) with physicians, nurses, dentists, and mental health providers. As an increasing number of rural hospitals close- leaving many Americans without reasonable access to emergency, obstetric, primary, or specialty care- the country cannot afford to lose any investment in the health care workforce.
HHS has also terminated 20% of the employees at the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. This bureau oversees important programs that support children and pregnant women, such as the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Block Grant and the Healthy Start Program. These initiatives help reduce infant deaths, provide wrap-around services not covered by Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and reach families before, during, and after pregnancy. In 2023, the Title V MCH Services Block Grant helped provide services to an estimated 59 million people. This included 94% of all pregnant women, 98% of infants, and 59% of children nationwide, including children with special health care needs. Although your administration claims to support families, mothers, and children, you are actively undermining the health and wellbeing of these vulnerable groups.
At your direction, HHS has reportedly fired workers who oversee the Maternal Mental Health Hotline, which offers free and confidential support to the very large proportion of expectant and new mothers experiencing postpartum depression and anxiety, and mothers who simply need a listening ear during some of the most challenging moments of their lives. From October to December 2024, the hotline received 7,500 calls and texts— a majority of which were from postpartum parents, reporting depression, anxiety, or feeling overwhelmed. Maternal mental health issues are the leading cause of maternal death in the United States. These firings could disrupt an essential support pathway for saving the lives of American moms.
We remain concerned that these indiscriminate firings have destabilized HRSA and reduced the ability of the agency to provide critical, quality services to the vulnerable populations at the core of its mission. We request a full account of the status of HRSA’s workforce and the impact these firings will have on the American people. Please respond to the following questions and requests for information by no later than Monday, April 21st at 5 p.m.:
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Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester represents Delaware in the United States Senate where she serves on the Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Environment and Public Works; and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.