DALLAS — Thousands more federal employees just learned they would be losing their jobs, like tens of thousands of other federal workers before them.
The most recent cuts were announced at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he was eliminating a quarter of the agency’s workforce, some 20,000 employees. Even the Department itself called it a “dramatic restructuring,” arguing the cuts will save taxpayers $1.8 billion a year.
We asked Democratic U.S. Representative Marc Veasey, whose 33rd C ongressional District stretches from Dallas to Fort Worth, what kind of impact the massive cuts across the federal government are having on his constituents.
“Chaos. Corruption. Cronyism,” the Democrat told us on Inside Texas Politics. “And I’m very worried about the DFW Metroplex.”
The Congressman also told us he doesn’t know exactly how many federal employees have lost their jobs in his district, but he said he’s heard of several — and the folks calling his office are scared.
Congressman Veasey then rattled off several federal buildings that would be impacted, from the Earle Cabell Federal Building in Dallas to the Fritz G. Lanham Federal Office Building in Fort Worth.
“We’re number two or three when it comes to federal jobs outside of the DC-Virginia-Maryland area,” Veasey relayed. “And so, you may not be a federal employee, but those federal employees that live in the DFW Metroplex, they eat at our local coffee shops, they get their clothes cleaned at local dry cleaners, they shop at the same grocery stores that all of us do. And when you pull that much money out of the local economy, it creates hardships on everyone.”
As for the restructuring at HHS, it will also include the consolidation of 28 divisions into 15 new divisions, and regional offices will be reduced from 10 to five.
Secretary Kennedy said the changes will prioritize eliminating America’s epidemic of chronic illness and allow the HHS to be more responsive and efficient.
