The leader of a prominent teachers union told Congress on Wednesday the Biden transition team solicited advice on school closures during the COVID pandemic, preceding a sweeping Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance that critics have faulted for keeping children out of classrooms for too long.
During a hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) asked American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten if the CDC first reached out to her union or the other way around.
“What essentially happened, sir, was that we were talking to the Biden transition team before he was sworn into office,” Weingarten said. Upon being pressed for clarification, she added: “The Biden transition team reached out to us.”
Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist on Twitter: “Chairman BRAD WENSTRUP: “Did the AFT first engage the CDC, or did the CDC reach out to you?”Randi Weingarten: “What essentially happened sir was that we were talking to the Biden transition team..”Wenstrup: “Did they reach out to you?”Weingarten: “Yes. The Biden transition… pic.twitter.com/5trdJh2g3h / Twitter”
Chairman BRAD WENSTRUP: “Did the AFT first engage the CDC, or did the CDC reach out to you?”Randi Weingarten: “What essentially happened sir was that we were talking to the Biden transition team..”Wenstrup: “Did they reach out to you?”Weingarten: “Yes. The Biden transition… pic.twitter.com/5trdJh2g3h
Further questioning led Weingarten to say she could not remember exactly when conversations with the CDC began — at one point remarking, “Look, I’m 65 years old. I don’t remember anything anymore, I’m sorry.” But ultimately the union boss said that she recalled the CDC setting up a conference call on January 29, 2021, which would be a little more than a week after President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Intense focus on the CDC during the hearing followed the New York Post reporting that records indicated the AFT and another teachers union, the National Education Association, were in communication with the health agency and the White House.
Those records, obtained by conservative watchdog Americans for Public Trust, revealed Weingarten spoke twice with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in the days leading up to the CDC releasing in February 2021 updated guidance on reopening schools with various precautions after researchers began to find that schools were not major spreaders of COVID. Further, in the two years since, studies have shown profound negative effects from prolonged remote learning, including on children’s well-being and academic accomplishments.
