The Trump administration has fired another 16 workers from a health agency that helps people exposed to toxic air during 9/11 and its aftermath, Sen. Chuck Schumer said on Sunday.

The firings, part of an overall gutting of most of the remaining staff of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, come more than a month after the firings of Dr. John Howard, who headed the World Trade Center Health Program, along with his staff, part of 10,000 layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program.

The Trump administration had said that Howard would be reinstated, although Newsday reported earlier this week that he's still not back on the job and his return is unclear.

The program has long provided health care to people who developed ailments connected to their time near Ground Zero and the other 9/11 attack sites. People sickened include first responders, workers, passersby, schoolchildren and neighbors in the area on Sept. 11, 2001 and in the immediate aftermath.

The cuts include scientists and nurses, as well as those who work in enrollment and services.

In an interview Sunday morning with Newsday, Schumer said that the cuts will mean that services and payments "will slow down or be even nonexistent."

"There will be people who won’t get their health benefits and should," he said. "The research as to what causes these — if there are new — cancers, that won’t be done. It puts a kibosh on the whole program, slows everything down and makes it less clear that people will even get their benefits."

The program is congressionally mandated, Schumer said, adding there would be fights to restore it in the courts and in Congress.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Responding on X to CBS News, which broke the story, the Trump administration didn’t explicitly say the layoffs didn’t happen but took issue with the story’s framing.

“.@CBSNews got it wrong. No CDC employee was terminated on Friday. A required notice was sent to NIOSH employees, following the agreed-upon standard process with the union. Firefighter health and safety programs remain a top priority," the post said.

Also cut from the agency are those involved with miner safety, firefighter protection and equipment evaluation for public safety workers.

Last month's promised restoration of the health program came after a pressure campaign, including from Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) and other Republicans who support Trump.

In a statement emailed by Garbarino's communications director on Saturday, he said: "Any cuts impacting the World Trade Center Health Program are indefensible. I will continue to fight tooth and nail to make sure this program keeps every bit of the staffing and resources it needs to continue its critical work."