“What we exposed through this is that it was political science, not in medical science, that [the] CDC used to put their guidance out on school reopenings. And, in fact, [the] CDC was getting ready to come out with guidance that would have been more favorable towards opening schools, and then the teachers unions were given – over a week before it came out – were given a sneak copy of it that no one else got that we’ve been able to find – and said, ‘Okay, what do you think about this?’ And we uncovered emails between the CDC Director and the union president saying, ‘Wait a minute, we don’t like this. We want new language that makes it easier to close schools.’
“And they actually – the unions – gave different language to the CDC. And then [the] CDC’s final language was almost word-for-word, verbatim, from what the teachers union said. I don’t know of any other group – surely no parents groups – that got this kind of VIP access. And in fact, I asked the CDC Director today in the hearing to give me a list of anybody else that they gave this kind of access to change the documents.”
“Ultimately, what [the teachers union bosses] said was ‘We want stronger guidance to keep schools closed. To keep millions of children out of schools.’ And keep in mind, too, Laura, this is all going on under the backdrop when the Justice Department is calling parents domestic terrorists for showing up at school board meetings.
“So, I asked the CDC Director, ‘Give me names of parent groups that you consulted and gave the same kind of VIP access?’ They couldn’t give me a name. And, I said, ‘I want to know, like, were parents allowed to have the same kind of ability to change the science, like the unions were able to get to keep schools closed?’ And she couldn’t give me a single name because it was the union bosses who said, ‘Look, don’t come up with this until you give us new ability to shut down schools,’ and they paid off their friends and gave them the language.”
Report: CDC Coordinated with Teachers’ Unions on School Reopening Guidance
A report released Wednesday by Republican lawmakers on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis reveals that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention coordinated quite closely with teachers’ unions.
The partnership had “an extraordinary level in crafting its school reopening guidance, despite the agency’s earlier claims that such coordination was routine and nonpolitical” reports Fox News Digital which reviewed the report.
Republicans write in the report that emails between the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the White House, and the CDC shows that the AFT’s “cozy relationship with the Biden administration’s political leadership at the CDC positioned the union to impose line-by-line edits” to the reopening guidance.
The behavior was despite the CDC’s insistence of “past practice to keep draft guidance confidential.” Fox News previously reported how the AFT and National Education Association teachers’ unions received a copy of the CDC’s guidance before they released it to the public.
On February 11, 2021, AFT’s senior director of health issues, Kelly Trautner, personally emailed CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky asking her to make an edit to add this specific line:
“In the event high-community transmission results from a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, a new update of these guidelines may be necessary.” Walensky then forwarded the email to Dr. Henry Walke, the director of the CDC’s Center for Preparedness and Response. Walke then made the addition for the union, and it was released the very next day.
In a joint statement provided exclusively to Fox News Digital, Republican Reps. Steve Scalise and James Comer accused President Biden of rewarding one of his biggest political donors while millions of children suffered from school closures.
Republican Representatives Steve Scalise and James Comer sent joint statement exclusively to Fox News Digital:
“The facts are clear: Biden’s CDC overrode routine practice to allow a radical teachers union that donated millions of dollars to Democrat campaigns to bypass scientific norms and rewrite official agency guidance,” Scalise and Comer wrote.
“The damaging edits by union bosses effectively kept thousands of schools shuttered across the country, locking millions of children out of their classrooms. The Biden Administration abandoned medical science and replaced it with political science to reward one of their largest donors, harming millions of children in the process. They bypassed the science to put union bosses ahead of children.
“Millions of Americans are still outraged at what these Washington Democrats put their children through, and all because union bosses demanded they keep schools closed longer,” they continued.
“America’s children are suffering, academically and mentally, because of the Biden Administration enabled school closures. Republicans will not rest until we uncover all the facts and hold everyone accountable who was involved in holding back millions of children from having equal opportunity to achieve the American Dream.”