Top Biden aide says schools should get money before they reopen

Ron Klain, President Biden’s chief of staff, said schools should get more federal aid before they reopen amid a debate over starting in-class learning.

When asked on CNN what schools would need to reopen safely, Klain simply responded, “Money.”

“That’s why the president of the United States sent a plan to Congress even before he took office, to make the investments you need to make the schools safe,” he said. 

“President Biden has sent a plan to Congress that would make sure that a majority of our schools can be open within 100 days. We need Congress to pass that plan so we can do the kinds of things you need to do so that schools can be safe, so that teachers can be safe, so that students can be safe. Sadly, it costs money,” he added. 

White House chief of staff Ron Klain says “out of 40 days” the Trump administration had “one day with a million” Covid-19 vaccinations. “Our goal is to hit a million 100 days out of 100. No country in the history of the world has ever done that …That’s a pretty ambitious goal.” pic.twitter.com/aMWFxT34lL

— OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) January 27, 2021

Biden has introduced a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that would take several steps to blunt the spread of the virus, including allocating funds to schools to beef up their safety measures. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that that there is “reassuring” evidence that there have not been widespread coronavirus transmissions in schools. 

“As many schools have reopened for in-person instruction in some parts of the US as well as internationally, school-related cases of COVID-19 have been reported, but there has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission,” the CDC researchers said.

The remarks come as states across the country explore ways to safely reopen classrooms amid a national spike in coronavirus cases. However, some teachers unions have been adamant that their members are still not comfortable with returning to the classroom. 

“Most of the teachers I talk to, they want to be back in the classroom,” Klain said. “They just want to know that it’s safe, and we as a country should make the investments to make it safe.”