{"id":1409928,"date":"2022-03-30T11:59:36","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T15:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1409928"},"modified":"2022-03-30T11:59:56","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T15:59:56","slug":"report-biden-administration-stifled-congressional-investigation-into-cdc-and-teachers-union-collusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-biden-administration-stifled-congressional-investigation-into-cdc-and-teachers-union-collusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Biden Administration Stifled Congressional Investigation Into CDC And Teachers Union Collusion"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freport-biden-administration-stifled-congressional-investigation-into-cdc-and-teachers-union-collusion%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1409928&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pexels-pixabay-256520.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>During the pandemic\u2019s peak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention colluded with the American Federation of Teachers to create a teachers-union-friendly plan to return to classrooms after nearly a year of shuttered schools. The Biden administration, however, stifled an investigation into this coordinated effort, a new report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.republicanwhip.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/AFT-CDC-Interference-Interim-Report-3-30-2022.pdf\">found<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In an effort to cater to the AFT, a massive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aft.org\/resolution\/aft-endorsement-joe-biden-democratic-nominee-president-united-states\">pro-Democrat<\/a> teachers union, the Biden administration kept high-ranking CDC scientists from answering key questions about the role of the AFT, which aggressively opposed in-person learning, in shaping the strategy to return to classrooms.<\/p>\n<p>The CDC, which <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/03\/10\/researchers-cdc-misrepresented-scientific-research-to-keep-schools-closed-at-kids-expense\/\">previously misrepresented scientific data<\/a> to justify keeping kids at home, solicited input from the AFT on key policy documents, something deemed \u201cuncommon\u201d by CDC officials interviewed by the committee, to create the guidance that permitted longer school closures if Covid-19 cases reached a certain threshold.<\/p>\n<p>When members of the select subcommittee tried to question CDC scientists about the protocols violated to accommodate the AFT\u2019s input, Biden administration lawyers advised the interviewees, including Dr. Henry Walke, director of the CDC\u2019s Center for Preparedness and Response, to decline to answer vital questions \u201cto ensure the Biden Administration was shielded from legitimate oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven though the Operational Strategy was released to the public in February 2021, and<br \/>despite clear evidence that the AFT\u2019s edits were incorporated, the Biden Administration would<br \/>not allow Dr. Walke to answer questions on this topic citing concerns with the scope of the<br \/>interview \u2014 a scope negotiated solely with the Democrat Staff of the Select Subcommittee on the<br \/>Coronavirus Crisis (SSOCC),\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n<p>Two weeks before official school reopening guidance was released to the public in February of 2021, the CDC granted AFT President Randi Weingarten permission to review and refine the full confidential reopening guidelines before publication. <\/p>\n<p>The AFT took the liberty to carve out privileges for teachers who refused to teach in person and even added the caveat that further guidance modifications, including school closures, could be recommended by the CDC at any time. As noted in the report, these modifications used language that would \u201cmake it more likely that schools would close to in-person learning.\u201d The AFT\u2019s changes were implemented by the CDC nearly \u201cword for word.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Weingarten claimed to be for school reopenings but couched her language with demands that gave teachers more leverage instead of students. She even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/teachers-give-thumbs-new-cdc-roadmap-reopening-schools-during-pandemic-n1257749\">alleged<\/a> that the Trump administration \u201cmeddled with the facts and stoked mass chaos and confusion\u201d when it came to Covid-19 and schools and should <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/05\/11\/teachers-union-president-blames-trump-for-prolonged-school-closures\/\">shoulder the blame for learning losses<\/a> despite<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/12\/20\/randi-weingarten-wants-to-erase-her-school-closure-campaign-but-we-have-the-receipts\/\"> her role in the campaign<\/a> to keep kids at home. Later, she <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/08\/02\/teachers-union-head-hints-at-school-closures-if-students-dont-mask-up\/\">threatened<\/a>\u00a0school closures around the nation if students and teachers didn\u2019t mask up for the 2021 fall semester.<\/p>\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/05\/01\/teachers-union-collaborated-with-cdc-on-school-reopening-emails\/\">reports<\/a> of the collusion surfaced in May, the CDC\u2019s principal deputy director, Anne Schuchat, who was privy to multiple email conversations between the agency and the AFT, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/05\/18\/top-cdc-official-steps-down-weeks-after-emails-surface-showing-collusion-with-teachers-union\/\">stepped down<\/a> from her position to \u201callow more time for creative passions.\u201d Parents around the country were also outraged that the organization that funneled <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/04\/28\/report-teachers-unions-increased-funding-for-democrats-who-thwarted-school-reopenings\/\">more than $1.6 million<\/a>\u00a0to pro-lockdown Democrats and left-wing organizations through its PAC and endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket was giving in-depth criticism and corrections to the federal government\u2019s school reopening plan \u2014 but the CDC didn\u2019t care. <\/p>\n<p>Even before Weingarten\u2019s AFT made changes to the guidance, CDC Director\u00a0Rochelle Walensky publicly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/02\/15\/cdc-admits-it-catered-to-teachers-unions-with-political-school-reopening-guidelines\/\">admitted<\/a>\u00a0that the agency\u2019s Covid guidance for schools was directly informed by the same groups that lobbied to keep students at home, which <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/03\/24\/shocking-data-shows-school-closures-caused-severe-learning-loss-for-children-around-the-globe\/\">severely damaged kids\u2019 academic performance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When pressed about AFT\u2019s role in altering the CDC\u2019s reopening policy, Republicans on the committee said Walensky \u201cdownplayed the degree to which the CDC gave AFT access to the policymaking process.\u201d She also \u201cpersonally managed the process for receiving and implementing the AFT\u2019s edits to the Operational Strategy\u201d and eagerly accepted the AFT\u2019s line-by-line edits despite CDC protocols, which demand guidance drafts be kept confidential until publication with the exception of some \u201cexcerpts.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just wanted to circle back and extend my gratitude for the language you have provided us below. \u2026 I wanted to be certain you knew it is being worked into \u2026 the school reopening guidance,\u201d Walensky wrote in a Feb. 1 email to AFT\u2019s Director of Health Issues Kelly Trautner. \u201c[P]lease know we are listening and working hard to ensure your confidence and partnership in<br \/>this endeavor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As noted in the report, further questions about whether the CDC has ever relied on \u201coutside stakeholders\u201d to shape other guidance were curbed by Biden admin lawyers. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe facts are clear: Biden\u2019s 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. 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,\u201d House Republican Whip and Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Ranking Member Steve Scalise (R-La.) and House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement. <\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire and Fox News. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordangdavidson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During the pandemic\u2019s peak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention colluded with the American Federation of Teachers to create a teachers-union-friendly plan to return to classrooms after nearly a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":490,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1409928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/490"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1409928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1409928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1409928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1409928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}