Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration gave teachers union officials “unprecedented access” to view and change national COVID-19 guidelines, according to a new interim report from House Republicans.
According to a press release from Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, the report reveals that “Dr. Rochelle Walensky bypassed customary scientific processes at the U.S. Centers and Disease Control (CDC) to allow the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), a political union and donor to the Biden campaign, to re-write key portions of the Biden Administration’s school reopening guidance. The AFT’s edits ultimately led to thousands of schools across the country to remain shuttered throughout the 2020-2021 school year.”
Dr. Henry Walke, a career CDC scientist and medical doctor, testified that “this level of coordination between the CDC and an outside organization was ‘uncommon.’ In fact, according to Dr. Walke, the CDC does not typically share draft guidance outside the agency for any reason, even with other federal partners.”
“Dr. Walke’s testimony reveals the Biden Administration provided AFT unprecedented access to the policymaking process for guidance on re-opening schools,” a summary of the report said. “Director Walensky downplayed the degree to which the CDC gave AFT access to the policymaking process. In fact, the CDC shared a draft with the AFT at least two weeks before finalizing the document and solicited the union’s feedback.”
“Director Walensky personally managed the process for receiving and implementing the AFT’s edits to the Operational Strategy. Her involvement was contrary to the CDC’s practice to keep draft guidance documents confidential,” the summary continued. “The AFT’s edits were intended to make it more likely that schools would close to in-person learning. The CDC included the AFT’s language in the final Operational Strategy, almost word for word.”
“A Biden Administration lawyer repeatedly prevented a career CDC doctor from answering questions about whether and why the CDC allowed AFT to write portions of the Operational Strategy,” it added. “Teachers’ unions, including AFT, donated more than $43 million to liberal groups and candidates during the 2020 election cycle. The two largest unions—which both endorsed then-candidate Biden for President—have approximately 4.7 million members.”
