Trump Administration Reportedly Unfires Staffers In Nuclear Security, Indian Health Service—Here’s What We Know

 

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump looks on during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on December 22, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Thousands of federal workers are getting layoff notices as the Trump administration’s sweeping cost-cutting measures reverberate across the government, but some laid off workers at two agencies were later told they’ll actually keep their jobs, multiple outlets reported.

Key Facts

An employee at the National Nuclear Security Administration told NPR on Thursday about 300 members of the 1,800-person staff at the agency, charged with overseeing nuclear weapons in the U.S., were being laid off (though a spokesperson for the Energy Department told The New York Times fewer than 50 people had been fired).

On Friday, NBC News reported officials were trying to notify some fired employees they were being reinstated but had no good way to contact and inform them of their rehiring.

About 950 employees of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Indian Health Service were told on a phone call Friday afternoon they were being laid off, but hours later they were told the layoffs were rescinded, Indian Country Today reported.

Newly confirmed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly verbally rescinded the layoffs after lawmakers and nonprofit groups expressed concern about the abrupt layoffs of so many workers at the service, tasked with providing health care for American Indians, Alaskan natives and native Hawaiians.

Why Were Layoffs At The National Nuclear Security Administration Reversed?

It’s unclear. The NNSA oversees nuclear weapon development in the U.S., and “works to reduce the global danger from weapons of mass destruction.” The layoffs came at a precarious time for the agency as it works to ensure the U.S. has the updated infrastructure it requires for its nuclear research and development, The New York Times reported. Last February, then-NNSA administrator Jill Hruby said the agency was “being asked to do more than at any time since the Manhattan Project,” and the Times reported Congress has expressed concerns about the workforce and staffing challenges at the agency.

Why Were Layoffs At The Indian Health Service Reversed?

Kennedy has not spoken publicly on the reversal, but layoffs at the Indian Health Service were reportedly set to impact doctors, nurses, dentists and more and would have “devastate(d) the Indian Health Service’s ability to provide services for patients and make an already dire situation worse,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement. Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., also expressed concerns about the layoffs, saying they would “have a grave impact on access to care for millions of Native Americans.” A coalition of 16 tribal organizations said in a statement to the Office of Personnel Management the layoffs could have “unintended life or death consequences” for tribal citizens, and said “the loss of Federal employees providing direct services to Tribal communities would be catastrophic,” according to Indian Country Today.

Key Background

The federal layoffs appear to be driven by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, with the Trump administration quickly enforcing mass layoffs across the government, with notable exceptions thus far at the Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security. Agencies including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Energy, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Forest Service and the Federal Aviation Administration have been hit with mass layoffs as of Monday. In addition to the layoffs, the Trump administration sent federal workers a buyout offer to voluntarily leave with pay through September, though only a reported 75,000 workers took it before the offer expired—which is about half the amount of the federal workforce that quits or retires annually.

What To Watch For

Whether the federal government tries to rescind more firings. Thousands of probationary employees are being targeted by the administration’s layoffs, and it’s unclear if all the firings the administration is implementing are legal. A number of lawsuits have been filed over firings, including one alleging the administration could not put thousands of employees with the United States Agency for International Development on leave, and one by eight inspectors general, who argued their terminations as federal agency watchdogs violated federal rules.