DAILY CALLERS NEWS FOUNDATION—The Department of Health and Social Services spent tens of millions of dollars a year in diversity-related spending, according to a new report from watchdog group Open the Books.

American taxpayers foot a bill of approximately $38.7 million each year to employ 297 employees performing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work at HHS, with 247 of these federal employees earning more than $100,000 dollars per year, according to to government documents analyzed by Open the Books.

On top of that, HHS spends $29.4 million annually to keep 209 workers on the payroll of its Office of Minority Health, which aims to “improve the health of racial and ethnic people.” . minority populations through the development of health policies and programs that will help eliminate health disparities.

One of the programs funded by the Office of Minority Health included a “vaccine equity” program in Atlanta aimed at providing doses of monkeypox vaccine to black gay men to help “celebrate diversity and the impact of distinctly black gay and queer culture on the community.” according to Open the Books.

“THE private sector “We are learning the hard way – and costly – that much of the diversity, equity and inclusion model is discriminatory and subject to costly litigation,” the report states, SEO reporting that many companies are shutting down their DEI operations. “While federal agencies have also faced a mountain of legal challenges, the Biden administration nevertheless maintained the president’s commitment to a “whole-of-government” DEI effort.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, the federal government has placed greater emphasis on integrating DEI into the bureaucracy. President Joe Biden sign Executive Order 14035 of June 2021, which directed agencies to make “diversity, equity, and inclusion” a “priority” in their personnel decisions. In response to this order, HHS promised to hire 313 employees in eight different DEI departments in 2023, according to to the agency’s 2022 strategic plan.

Beyond personnel, HHS has set aside hundreds of millions of additional dollars for DEI Initiatives across the agency, according to Open the Books. The agency, for example, set aside $608 million for “General Department Management,” with the program’s three primary goals being “racial equity, environmental justice, and climate change.”

Other big-ticket items include $241 million for universities to hire minority scientists, $24.3 million to make nursing more diverse and $5 million to fund an office of climate change and health equity and an office of environmental justice.

HHS did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.