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 workers on the company accountable for overseeing the quantity.
Smith Assortment/Gado by way of Getty Pictures
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Smith Assortment/Gado by way of Getty Pictures
The Trump administration has laid off greater than 100 workers on the nation’s primary psychological well being company, NPR has realized.
Present and former workers on the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration (SAMHSA) advised NPR concerning the layoffs, which had been a part of a government-wide discount in drive. The sources, who weren’t licensed to talk publicly concerning the company, stated the layoffs got here late Friday, because the nation’s authorities shutdown dragged on.
Workers had been notified of a “Discount in Power” shortly earlier than 8 p.m. ET on Friday, in accordance with a supply inside the company who was not licensed to debate the layoffs publicly. In keeping with the supply, administration officers provided no rationale for who misplaced their jobs:
“I feel the final feeling in the present day is shock — and never understanding why?” the supply advised NPR.
That supply was conscious of dozens of firings. Two former workers advised NPR that the overall variety of workers at SAMHSA who misplaced their jobs was round 125, although that quantity was a tough estimate. SAMHSA had employed round 900 folks initially of this administration, however had already misplaced a 3rd of that quantity to layoffs within the spring. With this newest spherical of firings, that quantity is down to just about half.
In a press release, the Division of Well being and Human Companies, which homes SAMHSA, confirmed the cuts.
“HHS workers throughout a number of divisions are receiving reduction-in-force notices as a direct consequence of the Democrat-led authorities shutdown,” Andrew Nixon, the division’s director of communications, wrote to NPR in an electronic mail late Saturday.
SAMHSA is accountable for overseeing the brand new 988 suicide prevention hotline. It additionally offers out billions in grants for psychological well being and dependancy providers. It was created in 1992 by 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 applications geared toward psychological well being points and dependancy.
SAMHSA funds “are the spine of behavioral well being on this nation,” Rachel Winograd, a psychologist on the College of Missouri-Saint Louis, advised NPR earlier this yr. “If these grants had been to go away, we would be screwed.”
Regardless of having what many see as a necessary 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 Huge Stunning Invoice. And earlier this yr, Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advised 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 shedding workers.
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 accordance with two workers who say they had been affected by the firings. Each workers 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 accordance with a letter seen by NPR. The letter, from Tom Nagy, the Chief Human Capital Officer on the division of Well being and Human Companies stated the worker’s Discount in Power was “hereby revoked.”
The supply stated they had been conscious of different reversals on the CDC, however it was unclear what number of workers obtained such letters.
Earlier than the reversals went out, one CDC official who was laid off advised NPR that the company had been the topic of sweeping cuts to workers at workplaces accountable for illness surveillance, outbreak forecasting, power illnesses, and immunization and respiratory illnesses, to call however just a few. “In the event 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 hold the general public knowledgeable,” the official who was laid off advised NPR.
The New York Instances additionally reported intensive cuts on the public well being company, together with two senior officers accountable for overseeing the CDC’s measles response group.
The assertion from HHS’s Nixon didn’t instantly handle the CDC cuts or the obvious reversals, however it indicated extra cuts might come.
“HHS continues to shut wasteful and duplicative entities, together with these which can be at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Wholesome Once more agenda,” it stated.
NPR’s Pien Huang and Jeff Brady contributed to this report.