"Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is demanding to know how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plans to comply with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests when the relevant staff have been put on administrative leave.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. laid off or eliminated HHS staffers in charge of handling FOIA requests at the CDC, Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, according to reporting earlier this month.
The move raised alarm among lawmakers and health care stakeholders as Kennedy had vowed to usher in an era of “radical transparency” at federal health agencies.
“The elimination of staff responsible for facilitating FOIA strongly implies an effort by the Administration to prevent the public from obtaining information about their government that they are entitled to request. I urge you to provide detailed information responsive to the requests included in this letter to bring transparency to the FOIA operations within the CDC,” Connolly wrote in a letter to acting CDC Director Susan Monarez."
Joseph Choi reports for The Hill April 24, 2025.
SEE ALSO:
"House Oversight Democrat Demands Answers On Gutting Of CDC Public Records Office" (NPR)
Advertisement 
