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White House document shows 18 states coronavirus "red zone"

Unpublicized recommendations say states should return to stringent control measures

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The Trump administration is rebuffing House Democrats' effort to hear testimony from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield on safely reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic.

House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) sent Redfield a letter last week asking him or a CDC designee to testify at a hearing on how K-12 public schools can reopen for in-person classroom instruction this fall. But on Friday, Scott said his panel had been informed that the Trump administration would not allow CDC testimony at the hearing planned for next week.

“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. This lack of transparency does a great disservice to the many communities across the country facing difficult decisions about reopening schools this fall," Scott said in a statement.

A senior administration official said that Redfield has already testified before Congress at least four times in the last few months.

The White House has been limiting congressional testimony from top officials leading the nation's response to the coronavirus pandemic, maintaining that they should be focused as much as possible on planning and implementing the federal government's actions to contain the virus.

The White House offered a similar rationale in May for preventing Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, from testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee about the government's response to the pandemic.

A White House spokesman said at the time that it would be "counterproductive" for officials involved in the pandemic response to testify at congressional hearings, but that the administration would work with Congress to make them available “at the appropriate time.”

President Trump, however, said after Fauci had been blocked from testifying before the panel that he didn't want officials to testify in front of what he called "a bunch of Trump haters."

"The House is a set up. The House is a bunch of Trump haters," Trump said at the time, noting that Fauci would testify before a GOP-controlled Senate committee. "But the House, I will tell you, the House, they should be ashamed of themselves. And, frankly, the Democrats should be ashamed, because they don’t want us to succeed. They want us to fail so they can win an election."

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Unpublicized recommendations say states should return to stringent control measures