Brian Kemp Backs Mass Layoffs of Georgia Workers

Yesterday, Gov. Brian Kemp defended the Trump Administration’s decision to lay off federal employees in Georgia. 

Kemp said, “I know they have some layoffs at the CDC and other things, but government can stand a little rightsizing.” 

Last week, the Trump Administration announced a plan to slash 10% of the CDC’s workforce, roughly 1,300 employees. With the CDC already hampered by Trump Administration directives to cease all external communications and take down large sections of its website — as well as a record-breaking surge in norovirus in Georgia and an avian influenza outbreak across the country — the decision to force the CDC to lay off all of their probationary employees, regardless of role or importance, couldn’t come at a worse time.

“Why would a Governor want his own constituents to be unemployed and unable to support their families? And why would a Governor want to risk public health with across the board cuts to the agency keeping Georgia families safe?” said DPG spokesperson Alex Yerkey.

Public health experts have already sounded the alarm about the firings, which affect both new employees and veteran employees who were recently promoted or moved into a different position. Dr. Joshua Barocas, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said this kind of Trump-initiated, Kemp-approved “slash and burn approach … will cause continued disruptions in our understanding of diseases” and disease outbreaks.

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