Press Releases

House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal (D-MA), House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), along with Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO), are demanding answers from the Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the Trump Administration’s reckless purge of workers at the agency.

The Democratic leaders are demanding answers from the Acting Administrator of CMS regarding the reported firings, including how many employees have been fired or placed on administrative leave, how employees were notified, what role DOGE has played in terminating staff, what analysis was conducted to justify these firings, how many additional firings are planned, and other essential questions that the American people deserve answers to. Critical answers are needed on the impact of these firings on the Agency’s ability to ensure the health and safety of Americans, including ensuring hospitals and nursing homes are safe, protecting programs from fraudulent actors, and ensuring access to new, breakthrough technologies.

“These firings are precisely what the President threatened after he took the oval office—retribution,” the Committee leaders wrote. “To date, the Trump Administration has failed to provide the public information related to the number of firings by position type and the duties they were fulfilling on behalf of American taxpayers. Put plainly, these opaque staffing cuts endanger the agency’s mission to enhance the health and well-being of Americans.”

CMS is composed of six centers and oversees Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces, covering more than 160 million Americans and distributing more than $1.5 trillion in payments annually. At a time when Americans need transparent government that works for them, reckless cuts to the federal health workforce are harmful to everyone, and the American people deserve answers.

Read the full letter to the CMS Administrator HERE.

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