U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), ranking member of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, and two of her GOP committee colleagues raised concerns about whether the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is honoring her pledge to ensure CDC guidance is evidence-based and free from politics.
“Recently disclosed emails that reveal the CDC’s “partnership” with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and involvement from the National Education Association (NEA) on CDC’s Operational Strategy for Reopening Schools raise significant concerns about whether you, as the director of the CDC, are putting politics over science and Biden-Harris campaign donors over children,” wrote Rep. McMorris Rodgers and her committee colleagues in a May 5 letter sent to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
In their letter, the members noted that on Feb. 18 they sent Walensky a letter regarding the CDC’s recently released Operational Strategy for Reopening Schools and requested that the CDC “provide the names and positions/affiliations of any stakeholders contacted or engaged by the CDC during the preparation of the updated guidance.”
The CDC responded on March 17, but did not provide information on that item, the lawmakers wrote, adding that “recent disclosures make clear the AFT and the NEA were involved in the development of that guidance.”
They cited a May 1 report by the New York Post about emails showing that the AFT received an advanced copy of the CDC guidance, lobbied for changes to that guidance, and that Walensky personally notified the AFT that the CDC accepted those changes.
“The hundreds of pages of emails also show potentially inappropriate political influence from the White House over CDC’s guidance process,” Rep. McMorris Rodgers and her colleagues wrote. “Additionally, the emails shed new light on your public about-face on whether the science suggested that schools can safely reopen and that doing so does not require teachers to first be vaccinated.”
To restore the CDC’s partnership with Congress and to rebuild trust, the lawmakers said the CDC “needs to be accountable and transparent” about its guidance process and Walensky must detail what input was provided by AFT and NEA.
Rep. McMorris Rodgers and her colleagues requested that Walensky provide written answers to several questions, including on what dates the CDC shared its draft school reopening guidance with the AFT and NEA, how many conversations she or other CDC officials had with AFT and NEA officials about the CDC’s guidance prior to its release, and whether the CDC shared its draft guidance with any other political interest group for input.