NPR News: 04-01-2025 10AM EDT

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Korva Coleman· Host0:23

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. Layoffs are underway at the Food and Drug Administration. These come amid an effort to cut the Department of Health and Human Services by 25%. NPR's Sidney Lupken reports.

Sidney Lupken0:36

Emails went out to FDA staffers early Tuesday morning that they no longer had jobs. The entire team that handles communications for the agency has been cut. According to an HHS fact sheet, 3,500 FDA jobs are being eliminated. It says the drug, device and food reviewers and inspectors will be spared. Many FDA staffers and their work are funded by user fees paid by the industry. Congress passed the first user fee law in 1992 to fund staffing to speed drug approvals. The fees are paid by drug and device companies as well as the makers of certain tobacco products. Some of the staffers funded by these fees tell NPR they lost their jobs too, but because they weren't paid by taxpayers, those layoffs won't save taxpayer dollars. Sidney Lupken, NPR News.

Korva Coleman· Host1:22

Wisconsin voters are choosing the next justice to sit on the state Supreme Court. The conservative candidate is former Republican Attorney General