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The Trump administration has reversed some layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after hundreds of scientists were mistakenly told they were being terminated amid the government shutdown, an administration official said Saturday.
“The employees who received incorrect notifications were never separated from the agency and have all been notified that they are not subject to the reduction in force,” the official told NBC News. “This was due to a glitch in the system.”
The reversal, first reported by The New York Times, comes as the administration faces growing criticism and legal challenges over mass layoffs during the shutdown, now entering its second week with no deal in sight.
Court filings show that more than 4,000 federal workers were laid off as part of the administration’s reduction-in-force moves, though it remains unclear how many of those terminations will be rescinded. Between 1,100 and 1,200 of the affected employees worked at the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC. The Treasury Department also saw major cuts.
Vice President JD Vance acknowledged the confusion in an interview Sunday on CBS News’ Face the Nation, saying that “a government shutdown inevitably leads to some chaos.”
“We are figuring out how to take money from some areas and give it to other areas,” Vance said, arguing that layoffs were necessary to maintain essential functions. “You’re going to lay off people, frankly, that the White House doesn’t want to lay off.”
In a separate Fox News interview, Vance warned that “the longer this goes on, the deeper the cuts are going to be,” and described the reductions as “painful but necessary.”
Democrats have pressed Republicans to pass a clean short-term spending bill and extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. Both parties’ competing proposals have repeatedly failed in the Senate, leaving the shutdown’s resolution uncertain.
