WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, joined U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., writing a letter to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), demanding more information about the American Federation of Teachers’ influence on school reopening guidelines. Miller-Meeks and Murphy are both physicians and members of the House Veterans’ Affairs and Education & Labor Committees.
Their letter was in response to a report in The New York Post that reveled emails between the American Federation of Teachers and the CDC. AFT lobbied for language suggestions to be included in the CDC guidance and The New York Post stated some of those suggestions were included in the guidance verbatim.
“The article notes several emails that demonstrate how American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten was given special access to shape the guidance document that has since been disseminated to schools. One email allegedly notes that the AFT’s on-the-ground experience could influence future documents, suggesting an ongoing unofficial role in the CDC’s schools-related processes,” Miller-Meeks and Murphy wrote. “We are concerned about the overt politicization of the process of developing and releasing what should be fact-based guidance focused on reopening schools.”
“It is imperative the CDC rise above politics and focus on the science, including studying virus transmission and the academic well-being and mental and physical health of students. Failing to put students first is a breach of responsibility,” they continued.
CDC guidance under the Biden Administration was first released in February and updated on March 19.
Read their full letter below:
21.05.06 MMM Murphy CDC AFT
