In the News

House Republicans outlined their concerns with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance for reopening schools, calling some of the framework “misguided and wholly untenable” and questioning whether it caters to “political influence.”

House Education and Labor Committee ranking member Virginia Foxx (R-N.C) and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) led 57 GOP lawmakers in a letter calling on CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to reconsider the agency’s most comprehensive guidance released on reopening schools.

“…It seems apparent you did not rely upon the best available science and weigh all of the risk factors in the development of the most recent guidance for school reopenings,” they wrote. “As such we implore you to reconsider this guidance and devise a more workable solution that will allow students to safely return to the classroom as soon as possible.”

More in the letter: The lawmakers expressed concern over the guidance’s reliance on indicators of community spread like “red zones” and called them unrealistic. They highlighted that “89 percent of school-age children live in ‘red-zones’” and said living in this type of zone restricts in-person school attendance, sporting events and extracurricular activities. 

“Given the sheer number of schools that fall into the strategy’s red zone, we believe this framework is misguided and wholly untenable,” they wrote. 

Additionally, lawmakers said there are “serious concerns” that the “CDC’s ongoing guidance is being disproportionately influenced by actors whose interests are not necessarily in line with those of our children.”

They cited conversations Walensky and Education Department officials had with parents, students, teachers, school staff and other groups that led to direct changes in the guidance. 

“We would hope that one of our nation’s premier scientific agencies is not succumbing to political influence and doing a tremendous disservice to the millions of children who will be negatively impacted by the CDC’s updated strategy,” they wrote.