Randi Weingarten grilled by GOP in contentious hearing over COVID-19 school lockdowns
Fox News congressional correspondent Aishah Hasnie has more on House Republicans questioning teachers union's influence on CDC in hearing over COVID-19 school closures on 'Special Report.'
The New York Post editorial board criticized American Federation of Teachers (ATF) president Randi Weingarten as well as Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday for dodging "responsibility" on school closures and other missteps in the country's COVID-19 response.
The editors referred to an interview Fauci, the former chief medical adviser to the president, did with the New York Times Magazine.
"Show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did," Fauci told the Times.
"Now he admits something ‘went wrong’ with the nation’s COVID response, yet blames 'political divisiveness,' ‘the culture wars,’ a failing ‘local public-health and health-care delivery system’ and ‘racial and ethnic health disparities,’" the editorial board wrote. "Anything, that is, but his own horrendous advice."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and former Chief Medical Advisor to the President, gives an update on the Omicron COVID-19 variant during the daily press briefing at the White House on December 01, 2021 in Washington, DC. ( (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images))
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"Even now, as the nation tallies up the social, economic and even public-health damage from Fauci-backed policies, he claims his hands are clean: 'I’m not an economist,' he pleads. ‘It was for other people to make broader assessments,’" the editors wrote.
They also noted Weingarten, who testified before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, and said one reason schools remained closed throughout the pandemic was because "the economy was prioritized."
"She took zero responsibility for pushing medically needless, prolonged school closures that led to historic learning losses for kids," they wrote.
"The damage is done; now those who misled the nation hope to dodge responsibility," the board wrote. "Shame on them, and shame on all who empowered them."
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten speaks as U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) listens at the AFL-CIO on June 22, 2022 in Washington, DC. ((Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images))
Mary Katherine Ham, in an op-ed for the New York Post, also criticized Weingarten and Fauci.
"Being a powerful advocate of draconian and ineffective COVID responses that hurt Americans means never having to say you’re sorry," she wrote.
Weingarten told lawmakers on Wednesday that President Biden's transition team was the first to reach out about school reopenings.
"So what essentially happened, sir, was that we were talking to the Biden transition team before he was sworn into office," Weingarten said during her testimony.
PITTSBURGH - JULY 13: American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten speaks to the audience at the annual convention of the American Federation of Teachers Friday, July 13, 2018 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
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Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio., repeatedly asked Weingarten if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were in any of the meetings the AFT had with Biden's team.
"So, again, yes or no, did AFT ever provide suggested revisions to the CDC’s operational strategy regarding school closures or reopenings? Did you suggest revisions to their operational strategy?" Wenstrup asked Weingarten during the hearing.
"What we suggested, sir, was ideas," she said. "They asked us for ideas."
Fox News' Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.