Signal for the 988 Lifeline psychological well being emergency hotline, Walnut Creek, California, December 20, 2024. The Trump administration has laid off greater than 100 staff on the company answerable for overseeing the quantity.
Smith Assortment/Gado by way of Getty Photographs
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Smith Assortment/Gado by way of Getty Photographs
The Trump administration has laid off greater than 100 staff on the nation’s fundamental psychological well being company, NPR has discovered.
Present and former staff on the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Providers Administration (SAMHSA) instructed NPR in regards to the layoffs, which had been a part of a government-wide discount in power. The sources, who weren’t licensed to talk publicly in regards to the company, mentioned the layoffs got here late Friday, because the nation’s authorities shutdown dragged on.
Staff had been notified of a “Discount in Power” shortly earlier than 8 p.m. ET on Friday, in response to a supply inside the company who was not licensed to debate the layoffs publicly. Based on the supply, administration officers provided no rationale for who misplaced their jobs:
“I believe the final feeling as we speak is shock — and never understanding why?” the supply instructed NPR.
That supply was conscious of dozens of firings. Two former staff instructed NPR that the entire variety of staff at SAMHSA who misplaced their jobs was round 125, although that quantity was a tough estimate. SAMHSA had employed round 900 individuals.
The Division of Well being and Human Providers didn’t instantly reply to NPR’s request for remark.
SAMHSA is answerable for overseeing the brand new 988 suicide prevention hotline. It additionally offers out billions in grants for psychological well being and habit providers. It was created in 1992 by means of bipartisan laws signed by then-President George H.W. Bush. In 2024 its funds was about $7.5 billion, most of which went on to states for packages aimed toward psychological well being points and habit.
SAMHSA funds “are the spine of behavioral well being on this nation,” Rachel Winograd, a psychologist on the College of Missouri-Saint Louis, instructed NPR earlier this yr. “If these grants had been to go away, we might be screwed.”
Regardless of having what many see as an important position in defending the nation’s psychological well being, SAMHSA has not been seen favorably by the present administration. President Trump had proposed slashing its funds as a part of his Large Lovely Invoice. And earlier this yr, Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. instructed Congress that he meant to fold its duties into a brand new program he calls the Administration for a Wholesome America.
CDC in confusion as some cuts reversed
An indication marks the doorway to the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention headquarters Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, in Atlanta. A number of key components of the company are dropping staff.
Brynn Anderson/AP
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Brynn Anderson/AP
SAMHSA was not the one company to see workers laid off on Friday night. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention additionally seems to have suffered cuts to staffing, in response to two staff who say they had been affected by the firings. Each staff weren’t licensed to talk to the press whereas the layoffs are being finalized.
However the cuts at CDC gave the impression to be in flux late Saturday. In an obvious reversal, one worker had their firing undone in response to a letter seen by NPR. The letter, from Tom Nagy, the Chief Human Capital Officer on the division of Well being and Human Providers mentioned the worker’s Discount in Power was “hereby revoked.”
The supply mentioned they had been conscious of different reversals on the CDC, however it was unclear what number of staff obtained such letters.
Earlier than the reversals went out, one CDC official who was laid off instructed NPR that the company had been the topic of sweeping cuts to workers at workplaces answerable for illness surveillance, outbreak forecasting, persistent illnesses, and immunization and respiratory illnesses, to call however just a few. “Should you needed to weaken America’s public well being capability with out saying it outright, that is the way you’d do it — take away the individuals who join the dots, regular the ship, and maintain the general public knowledgeable,” the official who was laid off instructed NPR.
The New York Occasions additionally reported in depth cuts on the public well being company, together with two senior officers answerable for overseeing the CDC’s measles response group. HHS didn’t reply to NPR’s request for remark about CDC cuts by deadline.
NPR’s Pien Huang and Jeff Brady contributed to this report.
