May 08, 2025

Wyden, Duckworth, Murray and Booker Lead Colleagues in Demanding Answers About Firings of Congressionally-Mandated CDC IVF Team

“The Trump administration is now moving beyond broken promises to purposely dismantling the very system that provides hopeful families with accountability and transparency regarding fertility clinic success rates.”

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., today led colleagues in demanding answers from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for eliminating the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) team responsible for making sure people who are trying to become pregnant have the information they need to thoughtfully and safely grow their families – despite Donald Trump’s broken promise to support families seeking IVF treatments.

“Because IVF is a complicated and expensive process, the American people deserve access to the best information possible to inform their family building journey. Unfortunately, hollowing out National Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Surveillance System capabilities and capacity is consistent with Donald Trump’s deceitful and disingenuous rhetoric on IVF,”  the senators wrote in a letter to HHS Secretary Kennedy. “Your actions threaten hopeful parents and families’ ability to access high-quality, safe, and effective fertility care. The American people deserve assurances that their rights under the [Fertility Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act of 1992] will continue to be guaranteed, as Congress intended.”

The Assisted Reproductive Technology Surveillance and Research team (ARTS) was established following a 1992 Wyden law passed by Congress aimed at guaranteeing consumer protections for people seeking to grow their family through IVF and other assisted reproductive technology. The fired team of six deeply qualified scientists and public health practitioners were responsible for carrying out the CDC’s mandated responsibilities under the Wyden law, including conducting IVF clinic data analysis related to success rates and important clinic oversight through yearly audits and site visits and the monitoring of lab certification status.

ARTS served as a critical source of unbiased information for patients seeking fertility treatment, collecting and maintaining data on approximately 98 percent of all IVF and assisted reproductive technology cycles performed in the United States.

In addition to Wyden, Duckworth, Murray, and Booker, the letter was signed by Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawai’i, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. 

The senators demanded the immediate rehiring of every civil servant formerly on the ARTS team and answers to the following questions by Friday, May 16:

  1. When will you reinstate the entirety of the ARTS team?

  2. How many employees on the ARTS team, and any supporting contracts, have been fired since January 20, 2025? Please provide a complete breakdown by position, provide information on GS level and veteran status, and clearly state the justification for termination. This accounting should include any employees who have since been reinstated or placed on administrative leave, noting that change in status.

  3. Which officials at HHS were involved in these staffing reduction decisions and what planning, if any, was undertaken prior to these reductions? Please describe the events that unfolded and name each office that was involved in the decision. Further, please name the official(s) who approved the staffing reductions as well as specifically indicate if any of the below individuals, or direct reports to these individuals, were involved in the decision-making. Name any such direct reports. 

    1. Elon Musk, Special Government Employee, DOGE.

    2. Amy Gleason, Acting Administrator, DOGE.

    3. Susan Monarez, Acting Director, First Assistant to the Director, Principal Deputy Director, CDC.

  1. Without an ARTS team, how will the CDC continue to carry-out its statutorily-required responsibilities under FCSRCA? Please provide a detailed plan, including noting who has the expertise, skills, capacity, and resources to carry-out the responsibilities formerly carried-out by the ARTS team. 

  2. Have, or will, any of the CDC’s responsibilities previously carried-out by the ARTS team been contracted out? 

    1. If so, what assurance will you give the American people that the data and analysis produced will be comprehensive, transparent, publicly-accessible and cover all IVF cycles annually, as the ARTS team did?

    2. If so, please describe the cost of contracting out these services. 

  1. In some instances, the HHS’s Reduction In Force (RIF) efforts have been characterized as final. Those same people have stated that, as per the nature of the layoffs, the roles and responsibilities previously carried out by fired staff cannot be refilled. Is this characterization of the RIF efforts correct?

    1. If so, how can the CDC continue to carry-out its statutorily required responsibilities under FCSRCA?

  1. What communication, if any, has been given to IVF clinics in connection with the ARTS layoffs and how to report data going forward? If any such communication was distributed, please produce it.

  2. Does the CDC continue to collect data from IVF clinics across the country? If so, who is responsible for collecting that data and where is the data presently being stored?

  1. People considering and undergoing IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies rely on up-to-date information to make informed medical decisions. Each year, CDC collects data from IVF clinics across the country and standardizes this information into a public-facing website and report. 

    1. As of the ARTS team’s firings, the 2023 data had been fully collected. What is the anticipated release date for the 2023 IVF report? Has this timeline been impacted by the ARTS layoffs?

    2. Have any of the information categories published in previous years been removed or altered? If so, please describe the changes that have been made to information categories and provide a rationale for any changes.

  1. The ARTS team was operational for over 30 years and the historical information it held related to ARTS is uniquely instructive to public health efforts and contains sensitive PII about hopeful parents undergoing IVF and their children. How will the CDC maintain patient confidentiality, protect PII, and sustain this critical database moving forward? Please provide a detailed plan.

    1. Further, who is presently in charge of the historical information previously held by the ARTS Team and where is this information held?

  1. Was the decision to dismiss the ARTS team made in consultation with any non-governmental entities, including nonprofits, think tanks, advocacy organizations, research or educational institutions, or public policy research organizations.

    1. If so, please provide any written documents or correspondence that informed this decision and name all non-governmental entities involved in the decision to terminate the ARTS team.

The full letter text is here. 

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