The Health and Human Services Department is offering a $25,000 buyout deal to the majority of its staff.

WASHINGTON — Approximately 80,000 federal employees working within the Health and Human Services Department, handling tasks such as disease research, food inspections, and Medicare/Medicaid administration, were recently offered a chance to resign from their positions in exchange for a payment of up to $25,000 as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce government spending.

The employees have been informed that they can consider this voluntary separation offer starting from Monday and need to make a decision by 5 p.m. on Friday. The offer was extended to all staff members across the department, including those at entities like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration in Maryland.

The email containing the offer was sent out to a wide range of HHS employees, preceding plans that agency leaders are expected to present soon regarding downsizing their workforces. HHS stands out as one of the government’s most expensive agencies, maintaining an annual budget of around $1.7 trillion, primarily dedicated to delivering health care coverage to millions of individuals enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid.

The agency oversees health insurance for roughly half the country through Medicare for older adults and Medicaid for disabled and poor Americans.

There was no immediate comment Sunday from HHS.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s health secretary, has hinted at plans at deep cuts to the staff. Last year, he promised to immediately clear out 600 employees at the NIH, the nation’s biomedical research arm. He has not gone that far, but in an interview last month shortly after being sworn in last month, Kennedy said he wanted to remove some workers from the public health agencies.

“I have a list in my head,” Kennedy said of potential firings at the agency. He said some workers “made really bad decisions” on nutrition guidelines.

The Trump administration, with the help of billionaire Elon Musk, has been trying to push out federal workers in an effort to cut costs. In January, most federal employees received a deferred resignation offer that came with eight months of pay. Thousands of probationary employees, too, have been fired across federal agencies, including at HHS.

The latest move to reduce the number of federal health workers comes as the the CDC is assisting with a deadly measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico and as lawmakers are debating deep cuts to Medicaid in the federal budget.

HHS workers are directed in the email to reach out to their local human resources office to submit for the voluntary separation.