CDC director blocked from testifying on reopening schools

The White House on Friday blocked Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC), from testifying on the reopening schools next Thursday, just one day after White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said "science should not stay in the way of school reopening" and "the science is on our side here," citing a recent study.

Robert Redfield speaks at a hearing on COVID-19 response held by the House subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., June 4, 2020. /Reuters

Redfield, director of CDC, has testified on Capitol Hill at least four times during the past three months, an anonymous White House official said. "We need our doctor focused on the pandemic response.”

The chairman of House Education and Labor Chairman, Bobby Scott, who had invited Redfield to testify last week, said "it is alarming that the Trump administration is preventing the CDC from appearing before the Committee at a time when its expertise and guidance is so critical to the health and safety of students, parents, and educators."

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany sparked controversy on Thursday by saying "science should not stand in the way of" reopening schools, even as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on in the United States. /AP

"We asked for anyone at CDC who could testify at the hearing. The invite was not for Dr. Redfield or no one," a spokesman for the House Education and Labor Committee said.

The tensions between the federal government and the CDC on guidelines around safely reopening schools has been growing for months. On Thursday night, CDC announced to delay the release of additional guidance for sending children back to schools, which angered local officials and teachers since they lack the key information on whether it is safe to go back to school next month.

The CDC has recommended schools impose measures like mandatory mask-wearing and keeping student six feet apart, while Trump criticized in a tweet earlier this month that these measures are "expensive and tough" and threatened to remove federal funding from schools that do not physically reopen. Later in response, Redfield told ABC's Good Morning America that the CDC was not to revise the initial guidelines but would only add more information.

White House coronavirus task force members, including Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health, White House coronavirus coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, CDC Director Robert Redfield and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams listen to President Donald Trump during the daily coronavirus disease briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., in April. /Reuters

The Trump administration has been limiting congressional testimony from top officials leading the response to the pandemic, maintaining officials should keep their attention on planning and implementing the federal government's actions to contain the virus.

The White House offered a similar reason in May, when it prevented Anthony Fauci, the U.S. top infectious disease expert, from testifying about the government's response to the pandemic.

(With input from agencies)