A group of 17 Democratic senators is urging HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reverse recent staffing cuts at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, citing risk to the nation’s opioid and mental health response.
Since the start of the Trump administration, 125 SAMHSA employees have been fired, reducing the agency’s workforce to less than 50% capacity, according to an Oct. 28 news release from Sen. Alex Padilla’s office.
The senators, led by Mr. Padilla of California and Ron Wyden of Oregon, said the move threatens key programs such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and jeopardizes services in rural and underserved areas. They warned that the firings could undermine efforts to combat addiction and mental illness, especially amid record overdose deaths and rising suicide rates.
“Without cause, HHS terminated 125 employees, further decimating the agency that is a critical first responder on the frontlines of our nation’s ongoing substance use and mental health crises,” the senators wrote in a letter to Mr. Kennedy. “… The firing of key staff at this agency threatens to undermine years of hard-won progress on the opioid crisis, and could not come at a worse time.”
From April 2024 to April 2025, more than 73,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, according to the CDC. The lawmakers said in their letter that mental illness and substance use already cost the U.S. economy more than $1 trillion annually.
