MOUNT STERLING, Ky. _ U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday said he fully backs coronavirus guidelines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is providing schools, a remarkably different stance than that of President Donald Trump.
Trump posted on Twitter Wednesday that he disagrees with the CDC guidelines for schools, calling them tough and expensive and saying "they are asking schools to do very impractical things."
McConnell said he had not seen what Trump said but backed the CDC.
"First of all, we've got to back the CDC guidelines," McConnell said. "There's no question about that."
McConnell's comment came as he laid out his priorities for the next federal coronavirus relief package while visiting Sterling Health Care in Montgomery County.
Kentucky's senior senator has been traveling Kentucky and holding press events at hospitals in order to highlight the CARES Act, which passed Congress in late March. The COVID-19 pandemic _ and the federal government's response to it _ will likely have a large impact on McConnell's chances of being reelected to a seventh term in November.
"I think there will be one more," McConnell said of a federal coronavirus relief package. Congress has already passed three relief packages. "It will originate in the Senate."
McConnell has repeatedly insisted that liability protections must be included in the legislation in order to get Senate approval, saying hospitals and businesses need to be protected from a potential "epidemic of lawsuits" that could follow the pandemic. But he also emphasized the need to pass legislation that will allow the economy to remain open, saying he does not believe the country can afford to shut down a second time.
"If you're looking for an emphasis on the rest of it, I think look at kids in school, jobs and health care," McConnell said. "We cannot get back to normal if the kids are not back in school."
McConnell specifically said there will be a heavy emphasis on providing funding to help with the cost of opening up schools safely according to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control, costs that would include increased cleaning, personal protective equipment and tools for online learning.
"It will be challenging for the schools," McConnell said. "You're going to want the kids to wear masks, you're going to want to do social distancing, you've got transportation issues, all of which will have a cost issue."
There has been increased political polarization surrounding the government's steps to limit the spread of COVID-19. Over the past few months, McConnell has repeatedly stressed the need for people to wear masks when they are in public, a message he reiterated Wednesday to applause from the health care workers at the Sterling Health Care.
Even as McConnell has stressed that message, there have been other efforts to peel back some of Kentucky's guidelines intended to limit the spread of the disease. Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who worked for McConnell before being elected to office, has joined two lawsuits challenging Gov. Andy Beshear's regulations limiting businesses. A Boone Circuit Court Judge recently ruled against Beshear's order on racetracks and childcare centers.
McConnell said it was "absurd" that masks have been politicized. He said wearing a mask shouldn't be a political issue.
"The coronavirus is not involved in American politics," McConnell said. "And I think the smart thing for us to do is to follow the best advice that we're given."
