NRSC attacks Democrats on school reopening

The campaign arm for Senate Republicans is attacking Democrats over President Biden’s struggle to reopen schools.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee announced it started running digital ads targeting a half dozen Democrats — Sens. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire.

Mr. Biden has pledged to reopen most schools within the first 100 days of taking the oath of office, but has struggled in the face of pushback from teachers’ unions — most notably in Chicago.

The NRSC campaign accuses the Biden administration and his Senate allies of ignoring the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has said schools can reopen safely with adequate safeguards.

Sen. Rick Scott, chair of the NRSC, said Mr. Biden has turned his back on his pledge to follow the science when it comes to opening schools during the pandemic.

“In the face of overwhelming evidence, Senate Democrats refuse to take a stand against the union bosses and support reopening our schools,” Mr. Scott said. “They’ve gone completely mute. The question every American should be asking is, ’why does our Senator fight for teachers unions instead of our kids?’”

Stewart Boss, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said Republicans are playing “political games” and said the criticism being leveled at Democrats is bogus.

Mr. Boss said Republicans bungled the response to the pandemic and “still won’t give schools and teachers the resources and support they need to reopen safely.”

Mr. Biden is pushing a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that includes $130 billion to help schools deal with the challenges posed by the pandemic.