'Reckless Chainsaw': Moulton Says DOGE Cuts Will Devastate In Danvers News Conference

DANVERS, MA — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton once again sought to sound the alarm about the effects of President Donald Trump's sweeping government cuts — especially in the realm of health and human services — during a visit to the Northeast Arc offices at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers on Friday.

Moulton slammed the Elon Musk-led Department Of Government Efficiency's mass layoffs as a "reckless chainsaw to our government," adding that the repercussions of those cuts are just beginning to be felt across the North Shore.

"So many people just don't understand the impact that these cuts are having," Moulton said during a news conference early Friday afternoon. "I am talking to a lot of veterans as well. These veterans who rely on the VA, as I do. Veterans who are looking at dying on the waiting list because so many people are being cut, including veterans themselves, from the Veterans Administration."

• MA AG Sues RFK Jr., Feds Over $11 Billion In Healthcare Grant Cuts

Moulton took particular aim at HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the $11 billion in health and human services cuts that Gov. Maura Healey said this week will result in $118 million in lost grants to the state of Massachusetts.

"Secretary Kennedy owes us an answer," Moulton said. "He needs to explain what he's doing. He needs to justify these cuts. Secretary Kennedy, like so many in this administration from the vice president on down, was against Trump before he was for him."

Moulton charged that Trump and Republicans will "take those savings and turn them into tax cuts for billionaires."

• Billions Cut From State, Federal Health Programs: What To Know In MA

State Attorney General Andrea Campbell said on Tuesday that Massachusetts is joining 22 other states and the District of Columbia in suing Kennedy Jr. and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over the grant cuts announced last week.

The Trump administration said about 10,000 HHS employees would be laid off under Kennedy Jr.’s planned agency reorganization, a move which the administration said will save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year.

HHS oversees 13 agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug and Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.

AG Campbell and the coalition are seeking a temporary restraining order to invalidate Secretary Kennedy's and HHS's mass grant terminations in the suing states, arguing that the actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act. The states are also asking the court to prevent HHS from maintaining or reinstating the terminations and any agency actions implementing them.

Massachusetts joins attorneys general in Colorado, California, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Washington, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin, as well as the Governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania in the lawsuit.

"Elections have consequences," Moulton allowed. "And there is not a lot that Democrats can do right now. I am working behind the scenes to try to get my Republican colleagues to just do the right thing.

"Under Speaker Johnson, the House of Representatives are out to lunch, and President Trump is trying to undermine the judiciary every single day."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)