C&EN: "Trickles of layoff plans at EPA, NIH hint at big cuts"

Also in this week's C&EN, this summary of cuts at EPA and NIH (article by Leigh Krietsch Boerner and Rowan Walrath)

Federal agencies are awash in uncertainty as details about reduction-in-force (RIF) plans, ordered by President Donald J. Trump, slowly seep out. As part of his Feb. 11 executive order to “eliminat[e] waste, bloat, and insularity,” Trump required federal agencies to prepare and submit reorganization plans by March 13 that include large-scale RIFs.

Many federal scientific agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Agriculture, have yet to share details of their RIF plans. But parts of plans at other science agencies suggest that many federal workers may soon lose their jobs. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a few details of its plans ahead of the March 13 deadline, but employees mostly remain unaware of what’s to come, according to NIH staffers. And parts of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s plans were first reported March 17 by the New York Times.

According to a portion of the EPA’s reorganization plan shared with C&EN by Democratic staff on the US House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, the EPA is proposing to eliminate the Office of Research Development (ORD), the agency’s research arm.

The reorganization plan reviewed by the committee’s Democratic staff says the ORD has 1,540 employees, not counting special government employees and public health officers, “of which we anticipate a majority (50–75%) will not be retained.” The remaining ORD employees will be transferred to other EPA program offices, the plan says.

This is grim news for federal scientists. If any of the RIF'd scientists are readers, please feel free to email: chemjobber -at- gmail dot com.