RFK Jr. says 20% of health agency layoffs could be mistakes

[Nevilledog]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-hhs-job-cuts-doge-mistakes/

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested Thursday that around 20% of the job cuts by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency will be wrong and need to be corrected.

Around 10,000 employees were laid off from the Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, as part of a restructuring architected by Kennedy and Elon Musk's DOGE task force. But Kennedy acknowledged they didn't get everything right the first time.

"Personnel that should not have been cut, were cut. We're reinstating them. And that was always the plan. Part of the DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning, is we're going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstated, because we'll make mistakes," Kennedy said, speaking to reporters at a stop in Virginia.

Kennedy said that the elimination of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's entire Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance Branch was among the mistakes.

It is unclear which other programs Kennedy may be planning to restore. The department did not immediately provide a response for a request for comment.

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