Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday opposed COVID relief for schools because he claimed that "urban" teachers are "failing" to teach children.
During a panel discussion with Democracy for America CEO Yvette Simpson on ABC's This Week, Republican strategist Sarah Fagan railed against a relief package that is being advocated by Democrats.
"This COVID stimulus package is bloated, it's fat, it should fail," Fagan insisted. "There's $130 billion for school reopening and the teachers union basically shoved it to Biden and said no. So we're now going to give $130 billion to public schools that aren't going to open."
"It's to protect the teachers and the families," Simpson pointed out.
Christie fired back at Simpson.
"And the CDC says you don't have to," he jabbed. "And the CDC says that schools could have reopened months ago. And the only reason that they didn't in my state, in other states is because of the teachers union saying they don't want to go back."
Christie added: "And you know who that's hurting? Urban kids! Urban kids!"
Simpson noted that teachers "have adjusted their lives to make sure kids stay educated through this pandemic."
"And they are not!" Christie exclaimed.
"They are putting themselves at risk," Simpson countered.
"Urban kids are not being educated in this, they're not!" Christie repeated.
"Teachers need to go back to work," Fagan opined.
"That's right," Christie agreed. "If the guy loading my produce at the super market can go back to work, a teacher can go back and start teaching an urban kid. They're failing our urban kids and they're a disgrace."
