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Source: AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten defended teachers’ unions influence over the Biden administration’s coronavirus guidelines for reopening schools. Host of Fox News’ “The Story,” Martha MacCallum, pressed Weingarten on the influx of donations to Democrat lawmakers from teachers unions.
A recent report showed collusion between teachers unions and Biden administration officials on the creation of school reopening guidelines
“In this administration, there have been $20 million that have gone to Democrats from teachers unions and teachers organizations,” MacCallum said to Weingarten. “So I guess that money seems to be working.”
Weingarten proceeded to blame Republicans and the Trump administration for reversing course on school reopening guidelines. In reality, GOP lawmakers and the former president championed funding within the COVID relief packages for schools to reopen safely.
Teachers Union President Blames Trump For Prolonged School Closures
In an interview on Fox News, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said that if it weren’t for former President Trump changing his mind about COVID-19 guidance, then more schools would have reopened earlier.
“I think the bottom line is this: if we had actually listened to Dr. Redfield and the CDC last May, and that the president, the former president hadn’t kept on changing his mind and changing these things, we would have gotten more schools back in session,” Weingarten said.
Teachers union president Randi Weingarten says Trump kept on changing his mind and changing these things, and that s why schools aren t open yet. pic.twitter.com/0CRer1F9lx
C D C Chief Defends Pandemic Guidance as Impatience Mounts nytimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nytimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Politics at the CDC didn t start (or end) with Trump There s a history of disagreement between the CDC and the White House, and it continues today.
By Joe Nocera, Bloomberg Opinion May 9, 2021 6:00pm Text size Copy shortlink:
In 1983, a scientist named Bill Foege resigned as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
He did so, Michael Lewis tells us in his new book, The Premonition, because after CDC researchers had discovered a connection between aspirin and Reye s syndrome in children, the aspirin manufacturers complained to the White House. President Ronald Reagan s administration responded by telling the CDC to cease and desist, according to Foege. So he quit.
AFT
Reopening schools has been one of the most contested issues of the COVID-19 era, and few have been happy with the pace – parent, teacher or student. One person who thought New York City has tackled it correctly is Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. Unlike some national labor figures, Weingarten remains influential among local education unions in New York, where she headed the United Federation of Teachers from 1998 to 2009.
7. John Samuelsen
International President, Transport Workers Union
As international president of the Transport Workers Union, John Samuelsen represents 150,000 transit workers, including 41,000 at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, his former employer whose tracks stretch from New York City to Poughkeepsie and Montauk. After a $3.9 billion bailout in March 2020, the MTA is receiving another $6 billion in aid via the American Rescue Plan, sidestepping once again the looming jobs catastrophe caused by the pandem