Luján, Wyden, Padilla, Colleagues Slam RFK Jr. for Purging Staff on Frontlines of Opioid Crisis
Letter follows mass layoffs from Trump administration during ongoing Republican government shutdown
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) joined Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and 12 of his Senate Democratic colleagues in slamming the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for firing federal employees working on the frontlines of America’s opioid crisis at the Substance Abuseand Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
HHS has now terminated more than 100 SAMHSA employees since the start of the Trump administration, reducing its staff to less than 50 percent capacity. SAMHSA provides key substance use disorder and mental health treatment services, with a focus on rural and underserved areas, and is responsible for programs like the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The layoffs, part of another government-wide reduction in force carried out earlier this month by the Trump administration, will reverse bipartisan progress to help reduce substance use disorder because people suffering will be unable to access SAMHSA’s critical addiction prevention and treatment services.
“Terminating the experts at SAMHSA who coordinate our national response will deepen both the human and economic toll and ensure devastating impacts from increasing supplies of illicit drugs flowing into communities across the country,” the senators wrote in their letter to Kennedy. “Your decision sends the wrong message to public health professionals—and to the families counting on them. It contradicts the administration’sown stated goals to tackle the fentanyl crisis, expand mental health services, and end the opioid epidemic.”
Kennedy’s decision to purge public health professionals not only derails progress made by a workforce with irreplaceable experience, but it also contradicts the Administration’s pledge to tackle the fentanyl crisis, expand mental health services, and end the opioid epidemic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 73,000 people died from overdosing from April 2024 to April 2025. The letter further warned that these terminations will lead to more opioid-related deaths and illicit drugs flowing into communities across the United States.
While the Trump administration is making it harder for Americans to get the help they need, Senator Luján is fighting to address the opioid crisis in New Mexico andnationwide, and continues to press the Trump administration to fulfill its promise to address this crisis.
Last month, Senator Luján helped pass the SUPPORT Act – a landmark federal investment to combat the fentanyl crisis through addiction prevention, treatment, recovery, and law enforcement efforts. As part of this legislation, Senator Lujánsecured several key provisions to strengthen recovery efforts and improve access to care.
In addition to Luján, Wyden, and Padilla, the letter to HHS was signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai’i).
The text of the letter is here.
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