The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bypassed scientific norms in allowing teachers unions to interfere with CDC guidance, according to an investigation by Republicans on the House’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
By bowing to the unions, a major donor to President Joe Biden and other Democrats, the CDC’s revised guidance led thousands of schools to remain closed throughout the 2020-21 academic year, according to the report.
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“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,” reads a joint statement from House Republican Whip Steve Scalise and Oversight and Reform Committee ranking member James Comer. “They bypassed the science to put union bosses ahead of children.”
Collectively, teachers unions donated more than $43 million to liberal groups and candidates during the 2020 election cycle, and the two largest teachers unions each endorsed Biden.
The American Federation of Teachers, the largest teachers union in the country, influenced federal health officials to include rules for universal masking in school buildings, according to emails obtained by a government watchdog group last fall.
But according to the House Republicans’ investigation, the group also successfully inserted language that forced thousands of schools to close.
In February 2021, the CDC released the Biden administration’s reopening guidance, a draft copy of which had been shared with AFT staff to get their input. The AFT then asked CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to include a “trigger” that would automatically close schools if COVID-19 positive rates surpassed a set threshold, per the investigation. Ultimately, the report concludes that thousands of schools were closed due to the union-backed alterations.
“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,” reads the joint statement. “America’s children are suffering, academically and mentally, because of the Biden Administration enabled school closures.”
GOP subcommittee staff also interviewed a career CDC scientist last summer named Dr. Henry Walke, who told them the tight coordination between AFT and the CDC was “uncommon” and that the agency doesn’t typically share draft guidance with outside groups.
The CDC did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
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“The AFT’s edits were intended to make it more likely that schools would close to in-person learning,” reads a summary of the report. “The CDC included the AFT’s language in the final operational strategy, almost word for word.”
