The trend echos the priorities that Trump outlined in a Feb. 11 executive order on workforce efficiency, which said that agency heads were allowed to exempt "any position they deem necessary to meet national security, homeland security, or public safety responsibilities" from a future layoff plan.

A federal judge in Washington has allowed President Donald Trump’s mass firings of federal workers to move forward.

So as a result of that, the federal government will not save money," said Scott Whitaker, CEO of the medical device industry group AdvaMed. "If these cuts are not reversed there's no question that it will slow down the process for new technologies to get to market and to get to patients,