Rep. Jamie Raskin, lawmakers seek 'urgent meeting' over deep cuts at Maryland-based FDA

Jeff Barker, The Baltimore Sun on Apr 9, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin and other Maryland lawmakers are seeking an “urgent meeting” with the Maryland-based Food and Drug Administration’s new commissioner over deep cuts that lawmakers fear could undermine its mission, including its response to the bird flu outbreak.

“Entire offices were reportedly eliminated, including, for example, the travel department that facilitated inspectors’ trips to investigate food and drug production facilities — leading to fewer inspections,” said a letter from the Montgomery County Democrat and other federal lawmakers from the state.

“We are particularly concerned about the firings of veterinarians working on our nation’s response to the bird flu outbreak,” said an advance copy of the letter obtained by The Baltimore Sun.

The lawmakers are requesting a meeting with Commissioner Martin A. Makary at his “earliest convenience” regarding staff cuts and other disruptions at the Silver Spring-based agency.

Makary formerly worked at Johns Hopkins University and was a surgical oncologist at JHU Medical School.

The Trump administration nominee was confirmed in a 56-44 vote by the Senate on March 25, picking up several Democratic votes in addition to unanimous Republican support.

At his confirmation hearing, he said he wasn’t involved in decisions about staff cuts and would conduct an assessment.

Raskin’s letter cited news reports saying the FDA was set to lose 3,500 staffers. The Sun could not confirm that figure.

“The FDA as we’ve known it is finished,” former Commissioner Robert Califf wrote in a recent LinkedIn post. “Most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety (are) no longer employed,” he wrote.

The FDA is part of mass cutbacks at its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.

“This is a difficult moment for all of us at HHS,” Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., posted on X on April 1. “But the reality is clear: what we’ve been doing isn’t working. Despite spending $1.9 trillion in annual costs, Americans are getting sicker every year,” Kennedy wrote.

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