First up? Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers; she spoke with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press. Weingarten said it's a "myth" that her union doesn't want to be back in school. "Teachers know that in-person education is really important, "she said. The new CDC guidelines, and the money for schools in the Biden COVID package, provide the roadmap,
... the layered mitigation strategies; the testing, so that you can actually see asymptomatic spread; and vaccine prioritization -- not that every single teacher has to be vaccinated before you open any schools, but you should align the vaccine prioritization with the reopening of schools.
She said 85% of her membership "have said that they would be comfortable being in school," with the right protocols in place. It's happening in different places around the country, and
... I think the issue is, if the NFL could figure out how to do this, in terms of testing and the protocols, if schools are that important, let's do it. And my members want it, they just want to be safe.
Weingarten said that unions aren't monoliths, and the locals asking for more than the national is just "...that people are scared." She said they've learned that when teachers are in school with proper protocols in place, they've got greater trust. At the same time, 71% of AFT members are scared they'll bring COVID home to their families. The AFT's been hosting town halls and trying to build trust with their member.
Todd's final question was whether we'd have full reopening without full vaccination. Weingarten said the answer really is in how "full school opening" is defined. In the end, she said,
What I think we need to do is we need to actually try to get as much in-person as possible right now. Have the mitigation strategies... have a real great summer semester to get kids' mojo back in a voluntary way, and then really be planning for next year.
I think the "really be planning for next year" needs to start now, doesn't it?
Now, let's check in with the #2 GOP leader, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who joined Jon Karl in the This Week classroom. Regarding kids in schools, Scalise said that President Biden can "give strong guidance and follow the science." Kids should be the priority, he said, but "that's not the case because right now you can see, as the unions have stepped up and said that they don't want in-classroom learning."
Our kids can't wait. They need to be in the classroom today. The science says they can be in the classroom today. The question is, is the will there for some politicians in Washington who are bowing to the teachers' unions right now?
Scalise's main issue is not requiring that schools taking money reopen. That, and there's "over a trillion dollars of money unspent" from previous bipartisan relief bills, Scalise added, and spending more money to "bail out failed states, to raise the minimum wage" doesn't have anything to do with COVID. Besides, it takes money away from our kids.
And his visit with Trump? Scalise said he was "in Florida doing some fund-raising throughout a number of parts of Florida, ended up at Mar-a-Lago, and the president reached out, and we visited." Which sounds like what GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said about his visit with Trump last month...
Three times, Karl asked about Trump taking responsibility; Scalise never mentioned Trump, instead blaming the people who stormed the Capitol, Senators using 'fighting words,' and Dems who didn't denounce "during the summer, when they were burning down cities, shooting cops, beating people in the streets..." Who "they" are, he didn't say. In the end he landed nowhere near Trump.
... we -- you can rehash the election from 2020 all day long, but there are people concerned about what the next election is going to look like. Are we going to finally get back to the way the rule of law works? And I think that's the biggest frustration many people have, is those states that didn't follow the law, are they going to keep doing that in the future, or are we going to finally get back to what the Constitution calls out for electing our leaders?
I'd like to hear his definition of 'leaders' because if he and McCarthy meet the definition, whatever the processes are, they've failed.
Finally, we're in the State of the Union classroom with Dana Bash and Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the House progressive caucus. The first topic was the $15 minimum wage, and whether Biden was "fighting hard enough" to get it done as part of the COVID relief package.
Jayapal said Biden's been fairly consistent in supporting it, while acknowledging it might run into trouble in the Senate. But, she said, it
would mean 30 million Americans would get a raise. A million Americans would come out of poverty, and 30 percent of those minimum wage workers are black; 25 percent are Latinx. It is absolutely essential that we do it. And I believe the Senate will do it.
Jayapal said that if "Republicans could give a $2 trillion tax break to the wealthiest people and stop Arctic drilling, then -- or continue drilling in the Arctic, then I think that Democrats can make sure that 30 million Americans get a raise."
Even in the face of two Senate Dems, Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AC) opposed to it, Jayapal pointed to what happened in her own state, in Seattle.
It is good for communities. It's good for businesses. I know because we were the first major city in Seattle to raise the minimum wage to $15 over a period of years. And, in 2018 and 2019, "Forbes" ranked us the best place in the country for businesses and for careers. We had one of the lowest unemployment numbers in the country.
She thinks the increase will be in the relief package. On direct stimulus payments, she said it "doesn't make any political sense to her" for Biden to give them to fewer people than Trump did, so there's no reason to change who gets them.
On student loan forgiveness, while Biden says it should only be $10K, she said progressives say it should be at least $50K.
...if you cancel that debt, you give a lifeline to millions of people across this country. So, let's work on it together. Obviously, if Congress could do it, that's great. But we believe that the president has the authority to do it. And we have been in conversation with the White House about it...
And, whether Biden is "living up to his promise to be the most progressive president," Jayapal said he came out of the gates strong, and
I think what we need to do is finish strong all the promises that have been made during the campaign to deliver relief to people, to make sure people understand what happens when Democrats control the House, the Senate, and the White House, is, we deliver relief.
As I said the other day, it's going to take a lot of fortitude on Biden's part to not be dragged away from what he believes in, and what lots of us who voted for him believe in, too.
See you around campus. You better be wearing a mask.
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