Chuck Schumer, in screeching 180, now says schools must reopen: ‘Uh-oh, we did some internal polling’
He may not have realized it but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just agreed with what President Trump has been saying for some time.
The New York Democrat admitted out loud Friday that schools must reopen in order to help the U.S. economy recover, despite continued Democrat contentions that schools would have to remain closed due to fears over the coronavirus pandemic.
“Chuck Schumer agrees with President Trump that we should open schools!” the caption on the video post on Trump’s YouTube account read on Friday.
“If we don’t open up the schools, you’re going to hurt the economy significantly because lots of people can’t go to work,” Schumer said at a news conference Friday, emphasizing that a “strong testing, tracing and treatment regime” is necessary.
“Executive orders leave out schools altogether,” he added in his remarks criticizing a plan by the president to move forward with an executive order to provide relief to Americans.
“So what happened? Why the sudden 180?” former U.S. Representative for Utah, Jason Chaffetz asked a Fox News panel as he filled in as guest host on “
Hannity” Friday. “Donald Trump’s been talking about this for months.”
“What he said actually was ‘Uh-oh, we did some internal polling and we found out that closing schools and tanking our economy is really not working well for the voters,'” Fox News contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy said of Democrats.
“They don’t like it. This was supposed to, you know hurt Donald Trump but now it’s hurting us. This is what this is all about,” she added. “The only science the Democrats care about, frankly is the science of polling. This was political calculation and they are playing games with our economy, with our livelihoods, and frankly with our children’s childhoods.”
Allie Beth Stuckey noted that Democrats are “stuck between a rock and a hard place” as parents want kids back in schools and teachers’ unions have been “trying their darndest to make sure that teachers don’t actually have to do their jobs in the fall.”
Earlier last month, Schumer pushed for the passing of the Coronavirus Child Care and Education Relief Act, which would provide $175 billion to schools to help in their efforts to reopen safely.
“The federal government must lead the way by funding the safety measures that would open the doors of New York and the nation’s schools in a way that helps ensure the coronavirus does not needlessly spread or infect teachers, kids or staff,” Schumer
said last month. “The federal dollars would help schools get PPE, barriers, as well as cleaning and other supplies to make a safe learning environment for children.”
Trump has been a vocal proponent of reopening schools to in-person education and has, along with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, threatened to withhold funding from those schools that do not comply. Democrats, on the other hand, have been clamoring for online classes and more cautious reopening efforts.
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has called for more distance learning rather than having schools open their physical doors.
A recent Hill-HarrisX
poll showed that more than 80 percent of voters want schools to reopen, using either a combination of online and in-person learning, or just fully online.
Schumer has spent weeks calling on Washington to ensure the next coronavirus stimulus package includes billions in federal funding to the nation’s education system in order to ready schools to safely reopen. This week, he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have been in protracted negotiations with the White House and Republican leaders to agree on a fifth coronavirus spending bill.
Poll: Large majority say schools should reopen either all or partially online | TheHill
Democrats including Schumer have openly criticized Republicans over the stalled talks, accusing them of being unwilling to bail out Americans with more money as they themselves continue to stoke fears about reopening businesses and schools in the wake of COVID-19.
With some locations in the country experiencing a spike in coronavirus cases, and amid the urgency to come to an agreement on another relief bill, talks collapsed between Congress and the White House on Friday. A last-ditch effort as Pelosi and Schumer met with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows also failed to produce any compromise and both sides pointed fingers over who was to blame.
The president slammed Democrats for being “only interested in bailout money for poorly run Democratic cities and states,” and tweeted that he is “going a different way,” perhaps referring to an impending executive action.
New funding of $915 billion for states and local governments is being demanded by Democrats while Republicans are trying to control the expense, offering $150 billion instead.
After the failure of the bipartisan negotiations Friday, Pelosi was asked if perhaps she had overplayed her hand.
“No, we didn’t. … We haven’t overplayed our hand,” she told MSNBC. “We aren’t overplaying our hand when we are factually presenting what the needs are for our families, for our teachers, for our schools.”
She and Schumer argued Friday that July’s jobs report was proof that another coronavirus stimulus bill needed to be passed.
“When the economy starts losing ground, the only choice is for a strong package,” Schumer said at a news briefing, claiming Democrats are “committed to negotiating” and are “willing to compromise.”
Twitter users weighed in Schumer’s talk about the need to reopen schools, convinced the shift is due to polling showing that the election could be in jeopardy.
Roger Grant
@RogerGr13218471
·
Aug 7, 2020
Replying to @CernovichInternal polls must show the public is furious and want the schools open again.
HandsomeDawg
@DawgHandsome
Bingo!
10:38 PM · Aug 7, 2020
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