HHS plans to furlough 41% of its workforce if Congress is unable to pass legislation avoiding a government shutdown before Oct. 1.
Of the department’s 79,717 employees, 32,460 will be furloughed, according to HHS’ contingency plan released Sept. 29.
HHS said it will use its authority under the Anti-Deficiency Act to maintain department activities during the possible shutdown.
“Over the duration of any lapse, HHS will continue to review its resources, authorities and flexibilities under the law to minimize the impact of such a lapse on the safety of human life and the protection of property,” the department said in a news release. “HHS will rely on exceptions in the ADA to continue to protect human life and property, such as monitoring for disease outbreaks conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
HHS will also use exceptions under the act to retain in support funded-activities such as Medicare, Medicaid and other mandatory health program payments.
However, the department will cease all non-exempt and non-excepted activities in the event of a shutdown. This includes oversight of extramural research contracts and grants, data collection, validation and analysis.
“More specifically, CDC communication to the American public about health-related information will be hampered, CMS will be unable to provide oversight to major contractors, and (National Institutes of Health) will not have the ability to admit new patients to the Clinical Center, except for whom it is medically necessary,” HHS said in the plan.
Under the plan, 53% of CMS‘ staff would be retained. The plan also calls for 86% of Food and Drug Administration employees to be retained, as well as 36% of CDC staff and 24.5% of NIH staff.
The White House has also directed federal agencies to prepare for mass layoff plans ahead of the potential government shutdown.
A Sept. 23 memo from the Office of Management and Budget obtained by Politico instructs agencies to update their “lapse plans” and prepare for possible workforce cuts and furloughs if funding expires. Agencies were told to identify programs that meet three criteria:
- Discretionary funding expires Oct. 1.
- No other source of funding, such as H.R.1, is available.
- The program is not consistent with President Donald Trump’s priorities.
“[Reduction in force] notices will be in addition to any furlough notices provided due to the lapse in appropriation,” according to the memo. “RIF notices should be issued to all employees working on the relevant [programs, projects or activities], regardless of whether the employee is excepted or furloughed during the lapse in appropriations.”
