The Trump administration’s slashing cuts to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services includes the Tuesday shutdown of its regional office in downtown Seattle, according to two members of Washington’s congressional delegation.
The Region 10 office in Columbia Center, serves Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. Like the federal health agency’s nine other regional offices, the Northwest arm works with area organizations and academic institutions to establish relationships with local communities, according to HHS.
“President Trump and Elon Musk are taking a hatchet job to HHS,” Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene said in a statement, speaking of the president and of Musk’s unprecedented role in cutting government jobs and services. “This doesn’t make America healthier or more efficient. This is an irresponsible decision that will harm public health in Washington and the Pacific Northwest.”
Amid the Trump administration’s plans to shrink HHS nationwide through thousands of layoffs and billions of dollars in cuts, the sprawling Columbia Center office space on the 15th floor looked all but abandoned Tuesday afternoon.
Desks sat empty, cleared of papers and personal effects. A custodian pushed a wheeled trash barrel.
One HHS employee who remained said almost everyone there was given a “reduction in force” notice when they got to work Tuesday, and fired.
About 200 people were fired, according to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray’s office. Another 90 employees were also fired Tuesday from a Spokane research laboratory run by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, housed within HHS, Murray’s office said.
The firings are “infuriating and downright reckless,” Murray said in a statement.
Details from the agency to the public were scant Tuesday. No information from the agency was immediately available on whether all Region 10 office jobs had been eliminated or if any might transfer to other HHS sites.
A spokesperson for HHS did not respond to a request for comment.
An email sent to a Seattle staffer at the HHS Health Resources and Services Administration said they would no longer have access to the building starting Tuesday.
“I regret to inform you that you are being affected by a reduction in force (RIF) action,” read an email from Thomas J. Nagy Jr., deputy assistant secretary for human resources at HHS.
The change “does not reflect directly on your service, performance or conduct,” Nagy wrote. “… Leadership at HHS appreciates your service.”
The closure means the region is left without yet another chunk of federal support for public health, a funding source that grows smaller every month as the Trump administration announces additional cuts. Promoting public health, connecting Washingtonians with affordable health coverage, preventing disease outbreaks and enforcing civil rights protections are all part of the work of the regional office, DelBene said in a statement.
In all, five of the 10 regional HHS offices across the country were closed, according to DelBene.
The news has not yet been communicated widely, said Nick Martin, a spokesperson for the Medina Democrat. DelBene’s office was informed of the closure through her position on the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees a health subcommittee, he added.
The shuttering essentially strips the region of any “on-the-ground support” and leaves local health departments and providers to “face many challenges in our region alone,” DelBene said in the statement.
The federal health agency, now helmed by vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., warned of these changes in an announcement last week, when Kennedy vowed to reduce the number of regional offices from 10 to five.
Those cuts include plans to lay off up to 10,000 researchers, scientists, doctors, support staff and senior leaders, many of whom have long guided national decisions on medical research, health trends and disease outbreaks, The Associated Press reported.
HHS has also reportedly closed its San Francisco-based Region 9 office, which covers Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada, plus American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands and Republic of Palau.
“Make no mistake: the reported plans to restructure HHS and close the San Francisco regional office would directly harm our most vulnerable communities and make America sicker,” former House Speaker and California Rep. Nancy Pelosi said in a Tuesday statement.
According to DelBene’s office, HHS also eliminated offices in Boston, New York City and Chicago, and a branch of its Office of the General Counsel in Dallas. These hubs provide services to 22 states, five U.S. territories and three Compact of Free Association countries, her office said in a fact sheet.
The closure of the Region 10 office will lead to a “drastically diminished HHS presence on the ground in our communities,” Murray said in her statement. “These dangerous, thoughtless, and callous cuts will jeopardize Americans’ health and safety today, tomorrow, and years down the line.”
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