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Republicans Silent as DeVos Offers No Plan for Safely Reopening Schools, Trump Threatens to Cut School Funding

Vulnerable Senate Republicans Remain “Silent Over the Trump Administration’s Threat to Withhold or Cut Funding From Schools”

Vulnerable Senate Republicans are silent after billionaire GOP donor and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos went on a Sunday show media tour where she offered no plan to safely reopen schools and underscored the Trump administration’s position that “school districts are basically on their own.” DeVos’ disastrous interviews followed a week of menacing ultimatums from the White House, where President Trump broke with the recommendations of health experts and threatened to cut federal funding from schools.

The lack of response from cowardly Senate Republicans is hardly surprising. They’ve praised Trump’s dangerously insufficient pandemic response, punted on support for state and local governments, refuse to extend the enhanced unemployment relief, and have “no plan” to help make it easier for millions of uninsured Americans to obtain health coverage.

Voters need to know: do Republican Senators agree with Betsy DeVos’ decision to leave schools across the country without a plan to safely reopen? Should schools have to make the impossible decision of risking the loss of federal funds or ignoring CDC guidelines?

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

CNN: Always polarizing on schools, Betsy DeVos brushes off coronavirus risks

By Maeve Reston

July 12, 2020

Key Points: 

  • Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made it clear during a CNN interview Sunday that the Trump administration still has no plan to secure the safe return of students to school this fall, underscoring the administration’s position that school districts are basically on their own and that students should return to classes in person, regardless of the risks.
  • Instead of outlining steps that the administration should be taking to safeguard the lives of children and families in the midst of a pandemic that has killed more than 135,000, DeVos sowed more confusion among concerned parents Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” as she stuck to her mantra — that children “need to be back in school” (period) — over and over again in answer to nearly every question from CNN’s Dana Bash.
  • Embracing the administration’s “anything goes” ethos, DeVos refused to say whether school districts should follow the guidelines set out by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to keep children safe, which Trump has described “as very tough and expensive.” She posited that the guidelines — which outline common sense measures like spacing desks six feet apart and staggering arrivals — are “flexible” and could be used as “appropriate.”
  • She offered no reassurances about how teachers would be protected, even though a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that nearly a quarter of them have underlying conditions or are of an age that places them in the highest risk category for serious coronavirus complications.
  • “There is nothing in the data that would suggest that kids being back in school is dangerous to them,” DeVos said. “In fact, it’s more a matter of their health and well-being that they be back in school.”
  • The New York Times, however, obtained internal CDC documents last week that warned that fully reopening K-12 schools and universities would create the “highest risk” for the spread of the coronavirus.
  • The CDC’s current guidelines for protecting children also note that “If children meet in groups, it can put everyone at risk. Children can pass this virus onto others who have an increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19.”

Read the full story here.

The Hill: Democrats seek to tie GOP candidates to Trump, DeVos

By Julia Manchester

July 12, 2020

Key Points:

  • Trump on Wednesday threatened to cut federal funding to schools, breaking with recommendations of health experts as he looks to start reopening the U.S. despite a recent surge in coronavirus in states such as Florida and Arizona. DeVos, who has frequently antagonized the left over her tenure, backed Trump’s push.
  • Colorado Senate candidate and former Gov. John Hickenlooper was among the Democrats to go on the offensive, calling on Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) to denounce the president’s stance on the issue as the two head for a heated race in the fall.
  • In Iowa, Democrat Theresa Greenfield, who is challenging Sen. Joni Ernst (R), is also hitting Republicans’ handling of the virus, homing in on her rival ahead of their race in November.  
  • Ernst did not say whether she supported Trump’s push to cut funds to schools that did not open in the fall when asked about it on Thursday. 
  • Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff also called for greater federal leadership during a campaign town hall on Thursday, while in Texas, Democratic candidate MJ Hegar slammed incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R) for appearing to question whether children can catch and spread the coronavirus when asked about the safety of students going back to school. 
  • “They [Republican senators] will literally put him above the safety and health of families in their states who are wrestling with an agonizing issue of ‘Do I send my children back to school?’” said Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist and former aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). “That’s going to drive them down.” 
  • Some Republicans also acknowledged how Trump’s rhetoric on schools could hit home for parents ahead of the start of the school year in the fall, just months before the general election. 
  • Still, Republicans have largely remained silent over the Trump administration’s threat to withhold or cut funding from schools that do not reopen by the fall. 

Read the full story here.

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