Washington (March 27, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), top Democrat on the Primary Health and Retirement Security Subcommittee of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today released the following statement in response to media reports that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to cut 10,000 jobs at the department, bringing the total amount of job cuts at HHS to 20,000.   

“Corporate greed, hospital and pharmacy closures, health provider burnout, unacceptable wait times and sky-high costs for care: America’s health care crisis is already here,” said Senator Markey. “Rather than work to tackle these problems head on, the Trump administration is cutting funding for lifesaving research into Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and cancer, has hawked measles treatment that leaves some patients more sick, plans to gut Medicaid, and is committed to making it harder for patients to get care simply based on who they are, where they come from, and how much money they make. 

“Rather than confront the health care crisis head on, Kennedy’s actions will only leave Americans to get sicker while the rich get richer. This evisceration of workers isn’t just a restructuring—it is a catastrophe in the making that will disrupt services, violate federal law, and deny the livelihoods of workers who dedicate themselves every day to protecting public health, all to pay for tax breaks for billionaires while American families pay the price of illness and death. We will not let this stand.”

###