{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/padilla-wyden-lead-colleagues-in-slamming-rfk-jr-for-purging-staff-on-frontlines-of-opioid-crisis/", "Padilla, Wyden Lead Colleagues in Slamming RFK Jr. for Purging Staff on Frontlines of Opioid Crisis", "2025-10-28", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "CA", "Alex Padilla", "P000145", "www.padilla.senate.gov", "padilla", "https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Letter follows mass layoffs from Trump Administration during ongoing Republican government shutdown\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Mental Health Caucus, and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) led 15 Democratic Senate colleagues in slamming Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for firing federal employees at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) working on the frontlines of America\u2019s opioid crisis. HHS has now terminated more than 100 SAMHSA employees since the start of the Trump Administration, reducing their staff to less than 50 percent capacity.\n\nSAMHSA provides key addiction and mental health treatment services with a focus on rural and underserved areas and is responsible for programs like the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The Trump Administration\u2019s layoffs of vital SAMHSA staff earlier this month as part of another government-wide reduction in force will lead to more Americans falling into addiction because they will be unable to access the agency\u2019s critical addiction prevention and treatment services.\n\n\u201cWithout cause, HHS terminated 125 employees, further decimating the agency that is a critical first responder on the frontlines of our nation\u2019s ongoing substance use and mental health crises,\u201d wrote the Senators. \u201c\u2026 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. Right now, communities across the country \u2014 in both red and blue states \u2014 continue to face record overdose deaths and escalating rates of mental health conditions and substance use disorder.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour decision sends the wrong message to public health professionals \u2014 and to the families counting on them. It contradicts the administration\u2019s own stated goals to tackle the fentanyl crisis, expand mental health services, and end the opioid epidemic. Terminating staff risks derailing the progress made by a workforce whose experience is irreplaceable,\u201d continued the Senators.\n\nPadilla and Wyden warned that these terminations will lead to more opioid-related deaths and illicit drugs flowing into communities across the United States. Kennedy\u2019s decision to purge public health professionals not only derails progress made by a workforce with specialized experience, but it also contradicts the Administration\u2019s 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.\n\nIn addition to Padilla and Wyden, the letter to HHS was also 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.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-N.M.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.).\n\nAs co-chair of the bipartisan Senate Mental Health Caucus, Senator Padilla previously condemned the Trump Administration\u2019s proposed dissolution of SAMHSA as part of HHS\u2019 restructuring plan and the White House Office of Management and Budget\u2019s HHS budget proposal. Earlier this year, Padilla led 12 Democratic Senators in warning HHS Secretary Kennedy that additional staffing cuts at SAMHSA would have disastrous ramifications for millions of Americans struggling with mental and behavioral health challenges.\n\nFull text of the letter is available here and below:\n\nDear Secretary Kennedy:\n\nWe are deeply alarmed by the recent firings at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency under your jurisdiction at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Without cause, HHS terminated 125 employees, further decimating the agency that is a critical first responder on the frontlines of our nation\u2019s ongoing substance use and mental health crises. The firings that took place on October 10, 2025, were on top of the hundreds of people HHS fired in April, leaving SAMHSA at about half the staff it had in January. 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.\n\nRight now, communities across the country \u2013 in both red and blue states \u2013 continue to face record overdose deaths and escalating rates of mental health conditions and substance use disorder. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 73,690 overdose deaths from April 2024 to April 2025. The opioid epidemic remains an ongoing public health emergency in the United States. In addition, youth suicide rates have risen by over 60% to all-time highs, and one in five Americans live with a mental health condition. Now more than ever, the federal government must be strengthening all efforts to respond to these dual crises, in addition to cracking down on the influx of illicit fentanyl into our country.\n\nIt is important to highlight that SAMHSA\u2019s programs not only save lives, they save money. Mental illness and substance use already cost the U.S. economy more than $1 trillion each year in lost productivity, health care spending, and premature deaths. 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.\n\nFor years, SAMHSA has been a cornerstone of America\u2019s public health response; implementing evidence-based solutions, expanding access to key services in rural and underserved areas, and launching critical tools like 9-8-8, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. These efforts enjoy broad bipartisan support, delivering real results on a crisis that transcends party lines.\n\nYour decision sends the wrong message to public health professionals\u2014and to the families counting on them. It contradicts the administration\u2019s own stated goals to tackle the fentanyl crisis, expand mental health services, and end the opioid epidemic. Terminating staff risks derailing the progress made by a workforce whose experience is irreplaceable.\n\nWe have seen your agency course-correct before, reversing similar mass terminations at the CDC. That same logic must apply here. The administration should be bolstering SAMHSA\u2019s mission, not undercutting it.\n\nThe public expects a health department that\u2019s focused on solutions, not politics. I urge you to reverse these terminations immediately and reaffirm your department\u2019s commitment to the people on the ground doing the hard work to keep Americans safe and healthy.\n\nSincerely,\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/padilla-wyden-lead-colleagues-in-slamming-rfk-jr-for-purging-staff-on-frontlines-of-opioid-crisis/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.3456281051039696, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}