06-05-2025
Mass HHS layoffs could disproportionately impact Maryland, comptroller says
In a letter, Maryland Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman said mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could disproportionately impact the state.
On Monday, more than a dozen states including Maryland sued the Trump administration after it announced the firing of 10,000 HHS employees.
"By firing health workers, shutting down disease surveillance labs, and slashing critical programs, the Trump Administration is putting every Marylander at risk," Maryland Attorney General Brown said in a statement Monday.
Many agencies within HHS are headquartered in Maryland, including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, the Food and Drug Administration, the Health Resources Services Administration, the Indian Health Service, the National Center for Health Statistics, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Lierman said that both the country and Maryland, specifically, will be negatively impacted by the layoffs.
"Maryland has long been proud of our partnership with the federal government, and thousands of HHS employees call Maryland home," Lierman wrote. "Not only will these firings injure the nation and these workers, but Maryland will also face negative economic consequences and decreased revenues to provide services."
Maryland's federal workforce
Maryland leaders have said they are concerned about the impact of the Trump administration's recent efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce on the economy.
Maryland has approximately 160,000 federal civilian employees, making up about 6% of the state's total jobs, and ranks second in the nation for the number of federal workers after Washington, D.C., according to the governor's office.
In February, Maryland Governor Wes Moore launched a resource dashboard for federal employees in the state impacted by federal cuts.
The launch of the dashboard came just after the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) ordered federal agencies to lay off almost all probationary employees without civil service protections.
