As President Trump’s second term hits its stride, we are witnessing a masterclass in government transformation.
Cabinet secretaries are making tough decisions, cutting through decades of bureaucratic bloat with surgical precision.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has emerged as one of Trump’s most effective allies in this effort. Once considered an unlikely choice for HHS Secretary, Kennedy has proven his commitment to the President’s vision of streamlined, efficient government. The pharmaceutical industry and their bureaucratic allies are shaking in their boots—and for good reason.
The Department of Health and Human Services is now offering employees up to $25,000 to voluntarily separate from the agency. According to Fox News, the email sent Friday explains that HHS:
[H]as received authorization from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to offer Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments.
From Fox News:
‘The OPM allows agencies that are downsizing or restructuring to offer employees lump-sum payments up to $25,000 as an incentive to voluntarily separate,’ according to the email.
This incentive is aimed at those who are in surplus positions or have skills that are no longer needed within their department.
The offer applies to most employees within the massive health bureaucracy, including staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Employees interested in taking the money and running need to act fast. The offer becomes available immediately, with forms due to local HR offices by this Friday at 5 p.m.
This move aligns perfectly with President Trump’s directive to his Cabinet. During a recent meeting, Trump made it crystal clear who is in charge of trimming the federal workforce.
Trump advised his Cabinet secretaries last Thursday, according to NBC News:
If they can cut, it’s better. If they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting.
RFK Jr. has been refreshingly blunt about which employees should consider the exit package. During a February interview on Fox News’ Ingraham Angle, Kennedy said he had a “generic list” of staffers he’d like to see removed.
Further:
If you’ve been involved in good science, you have nothing to worry about.
If you care about public health, you’ve got nothing to worry about.
If you’re in there working for the pharmaceutical industry, then I’d say you should move out and work for the pharmaceutical industry.
The message could not be clearer:
The revolving door between government agencies
and the industries they regulate is getting jammed shut.
The numbers tell the story of why HHS is a prime target for downsizing. With approximately 80,000 employees, HHS is a bureaucratic behemoth that consumes an eye-watering portion of taxpayer dollars.
According to Fox News:
HHS is the second-costliest federal agency and accounts for 20.6% of America’s budget for Fiscal Year 2025 with $2.4 trillion in budgetary resources.
Let that sink in—one agency controls over one-fifth of the entire federal budget.
Most of that money flows through the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. But the question conservatives have asked for decades remains:
Do we really need 80,000 bureaucrats
to administer these programs?
The voluntary buyout approach is both strategic and humane. It gives employees who may not align with the administration’s vision a dignified exit while allowing the department to reshape itself around its core mission.
This is not the first such offer from the Trump administration. Earlier this year, approximately 75,000 federal employees accepted similar buyout offers, according to NBC News. The message is clear: The federal government is on a diet, and the results are already showing.
