Trump is firing federal workers who are not funded by taxpayers
Elon Musk's DOGE team has slashed hundreds of jobs paid for by fees from banks, medical device companies and other forms of funding rather than taxpayer dollars, raising the question of whether the cuts will render hoped for savings.
Most of around 200 Food and Drug Administration employees fired over the weekend held jobs that were paid for by fees charged to medical device makers under a 2002 law, according to former employees and sources familiar with the matter, depleting staff needed to approve medically necessary products like stents and implants for consumers. Overall, the FDA has around 20,000 workers.
"The overwhelming majority of those who will be terminated as a result of this are recent hires ... funded through user fees. So as a result of that, the federal government will not save money," said Scott Whitaker, CEO of the medical device industry group AdvaMed.
"If these cuts are not reversed there's no question that it will slow down the process for new technologies to get to market and to get to patients," he added.
Two financial regulatory agencies that do not rely on direct taxpayer dollars also cut staff in recent days. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is funded by the Federal Reserve, fired dozens of probationary and term-contract workers and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation fired over 100 probationary workers as part of the government-wide staff reductions. Banking fees fund FDIC operations.
U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, one of his closest advisers, have mounted a sweeping campaign to slash the size of the 2.3 million-strong federal workforce, firing thousands of employees in an unprecedented effort that shows no sign of slowing.
Their layoffs at the FDA include employees reviewing Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink. The CFPB overhaul comes as Musk’s X recently announced a deal with Visa to provide payment services to customers of the social media platform. The CFPB is the primary federal regulator tasked with policing consumer protection laws for nonbank financial firms.
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