McCarthy: Our Children Deserve Open Schools

Statement

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) delivered a speech on the House floor today where he demanded President Biden and House Democrats put America's kids first by reopening schools and ending disruptive learning.

"More than one million students started 2022 with closed schools. Another year of disrupted learning.

"In Chicago, more than 300,000 kids spent four days locked out of their classrooms.

"This is the same Chicago that received nearly $2 billion from the Democrats' so-called "COVID relief bill" to keep schools open.

"We have an education and mental health crisis on our hands.

"Every student who is trapped behind a screen knows it.

"Every mom and dad who is anxious about another year of last-minute closures knows it.

"Even Democrat mayors and voters know it.

"And yet, President Biden said yesterday America is on the "right track' with regard to the pandemic.

"Mr. President, in what world is this considered the "right track'?

"Disrupted learning means we are leaving behind a generation of struggling students. It might be the single most destructive policy imposed on our children this century. The negative consequences could last a lifetime.

"The only question we have now is -- how do we save our kids from more disruptions to their education in the days and weeks to come?

"The President of the United States could have gone to Chicago or any of the 5,400 schools that started off the year closed to send a clear signal that kids belong in the classroom.

"Instead, he was in Atlanta yesterday delivering a speech that was so self-serving and out-of-touch that even Stacey Abrams kept her distance.

"But I have a simple principle that every parent knows well: Our kids' education is not dispensable. Their futures are not dispensable.

"I believe that as a parent, as a lawmaker, and as an American citizen. And I know every House Republican believes that too.

"We must be a society that pushes to do the best we can for the next generation. A society that finally achieves the goal of allowing every kid in every neighborhood to go to the school that their parents believe is best for them.

"House Republicans will work to make sure our children are the national priority they should be, even if this administration and House Democrats won't.

"I yield back."

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