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AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka speaks at the National Press Club in Washington, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The well-fed Union boss, AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka, took to the pages of
The Wall Street Journal to blast an article by investigative journalist Kimberly Strassel.
Strassel alleged that Big Labor’s insistence on having the PRO Act codified into the infrastructure bill is hampering bipartisan discussion and passage. Republicans recently countered with a $928 billion package, and Biden has shifted his former Memorial Day deadline, but rumbling on the ground reflects that this is not something that will be settled quickly; the PRO Act provision still resident in the bill is probably why.
Collaboration Between CDC and Teachers Union Doesn’t Help Our Kids
Commentary By
Jude Schwalbach is a research associate and project coordinator in education policy at The Heritage Foundation.
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its school reopening guidance in February, teachers unions lauded the new regulations. But one union’s plaudits likely didn’t come as a surprise to government officials, since it helped write at least two of those guidelines.
The nonprofit watchdog group Americans for Public Trust, through a Freedom of Information Act request, obtained email exchanges between the CDC’s top officials and American Federation of Teachers’ bosses leading up to the February guidance.
For an agency long vulnerable to mission creep, it was only a matter of time.
A federal judge finally reined in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, striking down its sweeping eviction moratorium on the grounds that it exceeds the CDCâs congressionally delegated authority.
In a 20-page memorandum opinion released recently, U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich rejected the CDCâs power grab. Tossing tenants out of their homes may increase the risk of coronavirus transmission, she wrote, but that doesnât place the United Statesâ 11 million landlords under the public health agencyâs thumb.
âIt is the role of the political branches, and not the courts, to assess the merits of policy measures designed to combat the spread of disease, even during a global pandemic,â Friedrich wrote. âThe question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratori
“The fear that they will bring the virus home decreases the moment they get their shot,” Weingarten wrote. Surveys by the union find that 89% of its 1.7 million members have been fully vaccinated or want to be, she says in her remarks.
Still, Weingarten isn’t suggesting a quick return to the type of schooling students knew before the pandemic. Schools should continue with mask requirements, social distancing, contact tracing and other measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she writes.
“It’s not risk free,” Weingarten says. “But we can manage the threat by encouraging people to get vaccines and following guidance from the CDC.”
Exclusive: GOP Rep Calls for CDC Director To Resign Over Union Collusion CDC director Rochelle Walensky / Twitter screenshot Matthew Foldi and Alex Nester • May 5, 2021 5:00 am
Rep. Greg Murphy (R., N.C.) called on Centers for Disease Control director Rochelle Walensky to resign Tuesday after reports surfaced that one of America’s largest teachers’ unions influenced the center’s school reopening guidelines. As a practicing physician, I believe that any physician who puts the influence of political organizations before the well-being of our children has violated the Hippocratic Oath and does not belong in public service, Murphy said in an exclusive statement to the