HHS RIF

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can they just get rid of the FOIA team? Aren't they required by law to respond to such requests?

its duplicative for every agency to have one, there will just be one for the whole government

same with EEO, HR, procurement, etc.

that should work great, right

there's just one president for the whole government, and that is fine

everything is fine

You forgot the house on fire meme or at least the /s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this is what's disgusting: the HHS notice said the reductions "are primarily aimed at administrative positions including human resources, information technology, procurement, and finance" and will “target roles in high-cost regions and employees in programmatic areas that have been determined to be redundant or duplicative with other functions in HHS or across the federal government.” These are among the programs/agencies they have fully cut:

FDA/Center for Tobacco Products (CTP)/ Entire division gone
CDC Freedom of Information Act Office. Entire team
CDC Division of HIV Prevention, entire branch gone, all epidemiologists and health scientists
CDC, National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health, Health Effects Laboratory Division, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Branch, Entire team
CMS / Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, whole office
FDA / Human Foods Program / Office of Communications, Education, and Engagement, entire team
National Institute of Organizational Safety and Health / whole offices in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Morgantown
FDA/ Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) / Office of Strategic Programs / Data Standards Staff, entire team
FDA/ Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research/ Office of Management, whole office
FDA/Office of Inspections and Investigations/Office of Management, whole office
FDA/Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH)/Office of Management, whole office
CDC/National Center for Injury Prevention and Control/Division of Violence Prevention, entire team
CDC/Global Health Center/Division of Global HIV and TB/Strategy, Policy, and Communications Branch, entire team
NIH/national Institute on Aging
CDC/NCCDPHP/ Division of Reproductive Health/ Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring
CDC/DEHSP - the entire division has been RIFd
CDC/EEO, whole office
CDC / Natl Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion / Division of Oral Health, nearly every employee in the division
SAMHSA / OTS-CENTER FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH STATISTICS & QUALITY / OFFICE OF TREATMENT SERVICES/ Entire Office RIF'd
CDC / Global Health Center / Division of Global HIV and TB -- 7 of 14 Branches within Global HIV were completely RIF'd
FDA/CDER/ Office of New Drug Policy - entire office removed
FDA Office of management: all budget, HR and acquisitions are gone
SAMHSA / Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality / Office of Population Surveys. Entire office RIFed
HRSA/Bureau of Primary Health Care(BPHC), Office of Health Center Investment Oversight, entire office was eliminated

This is devastating. People will die because of this. Our country is in trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can they just get rid of the FOIA team? Aren't they required by law to respond to such requests?

Yes. Response times will be very slow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can they just get rid of the FOIA team? Aren't they required by law to respond to such requests?

Yes. Response times will be very slow.

It's normal for FOIA timelines to not be met, and that has been the case ever since the Act came into being. FOIA requests are often extremely voluminous and time-consuming to address. Missed "deadlines" for responses are the norm, not the exception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can they just get rid of the FOIA team? Aren't they required by law to respond to such requests?

its duplicative for every agency to have one, there will just be one for the whole government

same with EEO, HR, procurement, etc.

that should work great, right

there's just one president for the whole government, and that is fine

everything is fine

So that centralized FOIA team is hiring? Other they'll miss the statutory deadlines because of understaffing.

Somehow, I don't think this administration cares about missing statutory deadlines.

their mandate didn't say anything about FOIA timelines

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they putting people on admin leave or providing them severance?

60 days admin leave and then severance.

Some are getting 60 days admin leave but no severance. I haven’t been able to figure out the fact pattern for severance/non severance. The 250 salary cutoff doesn’t seem to hold, and neither does a difference in BU NBU.

If you qualify for retirement (by age and tenure) then you don’t get severance, you are eligible for a pension immediately. But the pension is only a small percentage of what salary would have been,

I was wondering that too, but those not eligible for severance are not retirement eligible (they weren’t even eligible for the VERA).

All it takes is MRA +10. That is, age 56-57 (varies slightly) and 10 years in position. It's a tiny annuity but it's enough to disqualify from severance. Have those people look at 'postponed retirement' (different from deferred). They can retire when they hit 62 and also apply to get health insurance reinstated at that point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can they just get rid of the FOIA team? Aren't they required by law to respond to such requests?

Yes. Response times will be very slow.

It's normal for FOIA timelines to not be met, and that has been the case ever since the Act came into being. FOIA requests are often extremely voluminous and time-consuming to address. Missed "deadlines" for responses are the norm, not the exception.

And now they will be exponentially slower. Do you think that’s a good thing? Does it make sense for an administration that claims it supports radical transparency to further slow down the process? Please explain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:800 cut from CDER

How many were in CDER?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this is what's disgusting: the HHS notice said the reductions "are primarily aimed at administrative positions including human resources, information technology, procurement, and finance" and will “target roles in high-cost regions and employees in programmatic areas that have been determined to be redundant or duplicative with other functions in HHS or across the federal government.” These are among the programs/agencies they have fully cut:

FDA/Center for Tobacco Products (CTP)/ Entire division gone
CDC Freedom of Information Act Office. Entire team
CDC Division of HIV Prevention, entire branch gone, all epidemiologists and health scientists
CDC, National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health, Health Effects Laboratory Division, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Branch, Entire team
CMS / Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, whole office
FDA / Human Foods Program / Office of Communications, Education, and Engagement, entire team
National Institute of Organizational Safety and Health / whole offices in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Morgantown
FDA/ Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) / Office of Strategic Programs / Data Standards Staff, entire team
FDA/ Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research/ Office of Management, whole office
FDA/Office of Inspections and Investigations/Office of Management, whole office
FDA/Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH)/Office of Management, whole office
CDC/National Center for Injury Prevention and Control/Division of Violence Prevention, entire team
CDC/Global Health Center/Division of Global HIV and TB/Strategy, Policy, and Communications Branch, entire team
NIH/national Institute on Aging
CDC/NCCDPHP/ Division of Reproductive Health/ Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring
CDC/DEHSP - the entire division has been RIFd
CDC/EEO, whole office
CDC / Natl Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion / Division of Oral Health, nearly every employee in the division
SAMHSA / OTS-CENTER FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH STATISTICS & QUALITY / OFFICE OF TREATMENT SERVICES/ Entire Office RIF'd
CDC / Global Health Center / Division of Global HIV and TB -- 7 of 14 Branches within Global HIV were completely RIF'd
FDA/CDER/ Office of New Drug Policy - entire office removed
FDA Office of management: all budget, HR and acquisitions are gone
SAMHSA / Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality / Office of Population Surveys. Entire office RIFed
HRSA/Bureau of Primary Health Care(BPHC), Office of Health Center Investment Oversight, entire office was eliminated

Wow. God help us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These have been rolling out. Entire offices gone.

Heard the FDA attorneys were hit hard. Are any of them left?

I think you misheard.

Nope. Attorneys got slammed, especially in policy.

It is going to be a massive disaster for all of the biotech sector.

I haven’t heard of any attorneys in the Food and Drug Division of OGC getting RIFed. If FDA has attorneys working outside of OGC in policy positions, presumably they got the same treatment as all of their non-attorney co-workers in the eliminated offices?

Yes- there are multiple offices that are not OCC (Office of Chief Counsel which is staffed by HHS/OGC) full of attorneys. CDER/Office of Regulatory Policy as well as the policy group in OGD are two that had massive impacts.

From a friend in CDER/Office of Reg Policy - sounds like half the office is gone.

[Anonymous]

"Let's get rid of all the smart people first!"

--- how to make a country backwater again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Let's get rid of all the smart people first!"

--- how to make a country backwater again.

I used to think libertarians were hypocrites because they wanted to live in a first world country but only pay taxes sufficient for a third world country. Nope, turns out they are OK with living in a third world country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Let's get rid of all the smart people first!"

--- how to make a country backwater again.

I used to think libertarians were hypocrites because they wanted to live in a first world country but only pay taxes sufficient for a third world country. Nope, turns out they are OK with living in a third world country.

This is it. Both libertarians and Republicans are happy to live in a third world country. I now understand more the model that they are seeking. Especially when the private sector gets hard hit next they are going to be okay with mass unemployment, a rise in diseases, a crappy stock market, a decline in just about every sector of life.

[Anonymous]

Can you do the deferred retirement and severance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this is what's disgusting: the HHS notice said the reductions "are primarily aimed at administrative positions including human resources, information technology, procurement, and finance" and will “target roles in high-cost regions and employees in programmatic areas that have been determined to be redundant or duplicative with other functions in HHS or across the federal government.” These are among the programs/agencies they have fully cut:

FDA/Center for Tobacco Products (CTP)/ Entire division gone
CDC Freedom of Information Act Office. Entire team
CDC Division of HIV Prevention, entire branch gone, all epidemiologists and health scientists
CDC, National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health, Health Effects Laboratory Division, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Branch, Entire team
CMS / Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, whole office
FDA / Human Foods Program / Office of Communications, Education, and Engagement, entire team
National Institute of Organizational Safety and Health / whole offices in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Morgantown
FDA/ Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) / Office of Strategic Programs / Data Standards Staff, entire team
FDA/ Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research/ Office of Management, whole office
FDA/Office of Inspections and Investigations/Office of Management, whole office
FDA/Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH)/Office of Management, whole office
CDC/National Center for Injury Prevention and Control/Division of Violence Prevention, entire team
CDC/Global Health Center/Division of Global HIV and TB/Strategy, Policy, and Communications Branch, entire team
NIH/national Institute on Aging
CDC/NCCDPHP/ Division of Reproductive Health/ Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring
CDC/DEHSP - the entire division has been RIFd
CDC/EEO, whole office
CDC / Natl Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion / Division of Oral Health, nearly every employee in the division
SAMHSA / OTS-CENTER FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH STATISTICS & QUALITY / OFFICE OF TREATMENT SERVICES/ Entire Office RIF'd
CDC / Global Health Center / Division of Global HIV and TB -- 7 of 14 Branches within Global HIV were completely RIF'd
FDA/CDER/ Office of New Drug Policy - entire office removed
FDA Office of management: all budget, HR and acquisitions are gone
SAMHSA / Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality / Office of Population Surveys. Entire office RIFed
HRSA/Bureau of Primary Health Care(BPHC), Office of Health Center Investment Oversight, entire office was eliminated

If we were at war and a foreign enemy had taken over our government, they would not close programs like these. Think about that.