(Headline USA) House Republicans announced this week that they are launching an investigation into the Department of Education for allegedly using COVID-19 relief funds to push critical race theory and other far-Left programs in public schools.
House Committee on Oversight and Reform ranking member James Comer, R-Ky., and Education and Labor Committee ranking member Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona that they and 30 other GOP lawmakers would be investigating the ways in which the Education Department spent its COVID-19 emergency funds.
“Based on recent reports, the Department of Education is allowing Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and related COVID relief funds to pay for racially biased and other progressive leftist programs,” the Republicans wrote.
The lawmakers cited a recent report that revealed California used COVID-19 funds, which were meant to help students work through learning losses suffered during the pandemic, for “LGBTQ+ cultural competency trainings,” New York used $9 billion to fund “equity warriors” development, and Illinois used $5 billion to make “equity driven investments.”
At least 10 other states have similar plans that include “a proposal to use the [COVID-19] funds to implement racially biased curriculum and programs based on critical race theory,” the lawmakers said.
The House Republicans asked Cardona to turn over all documents and communications related to the use of COVID-19 funds.
When asked for comment, an Education Department spokesman dismissed Republicans’ demands as “an absurd partisan political attack.”
“COVID relief dollars were used to safely re-open schools and are currently being used to provide necessary academic and mental health supports and address equity issues to help students and families most impacted by the pandemic,” said the spokesperson.
“The Department of Education has encouraged states to use ESSER funds for these purposes, and states and schools have done so all across the country, including in these members’ districts, despite the fact they voted against these critical school re-opening and recovery funds,” the spokesperson added.
