‘The Best Interests Of Children Have Often Come Dead Last’: Watch McConnell Tear Into Teachers’ Unions

On the Senate floor Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) denounced the teachers’ unions that have stalled the return of students to the classroom, stating, “The best interests of children have often come dead last.” The Kentucky senator also targeted the intimate relationship teachers’ unions have with the Democratic party going back decades, charging, “Science is not the obstacle; federal money is not the obstacle; the obstacle is a lack of will-power. Not among students; not among parents; just among the rich, powerful unions that donate huge sums to Democrats and get a stranglehold over education in many communities.”

“This pandemic has forced Americans to confront numerous and compounding tragedies,” McConnell began (video below). “Almost 450,000 Americans have been killed; millions of livelihoods have been upended, and millions of American kids, especially those who attend public school, have been robbed of an entire year and counting, of proper school. Despite the heroic efforts of students, parents and teachers, so-called ‘remote learning’ has proven a poor substitute for the real thing. Research suggests that even if the average remote learning student had gotten back in the classroom last month, they’d already have missed multiple months’ worth of learning compared to a normal year.”