Republicans pile on Biden administration for promoting CRT group

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., joined a growing list of Republican lawmakers admonishing the Biden administration for promoting a pro-critical race theory group.

The Department of Education included a link to the Abolitionist Teaching Network in a handbook intended to help public schools reopen and suggest how they should spend funding provided through the American Rescue Plan. A department spokesperson said hours after Fox News reported the inclusion that "it was an error" to include the link.

"This is another major flip flop from the Biden administration," Blackburn told Fox News in a statement. "If Biden truly does not support Critical Race Theory, he will publicly call on teachers’ unions to stop pushing this propaganda on our unsuspecting children."

"I’ve demanded the [National Education Association] halt efforts to target and surveil opponents of this Marxist ideology," Blackburn continued. 

The Tennessee Republican sent a letter to the NEA, the largest teachers union, after it said it would collect information on opponents of critical race theory.

PRO-CRT GROUP PROMOTED BY BIDEN ADMIN LOCKS TWITTER ACCOUNT FOLLOWING FOX NEWS REPORT

And Stefanik, who chairs the House Republican Caucus, told Fox News in a statement: "President Biden has spent his first six months in office working to enact the Far-Left's divisive and radical agenda. So, it's not surprising that Biden's Department of Education was actively pushing a radical pro-CRT group's handbook in their guidance for school reopening."

"Families across America are outraged at the Biden and radical Democrat agenda dividing our communities by forcing CRT on our kids," the New York Republican continued.

The Abolitionist Teaching network's materials, including the guide the Department of Education promoted, incorporates rhetoric associated with critical race theory.

"Abolitionist Teachers" should "[b]uild a school culture that engages in healing and advocacy. This requires a commitment to learning from students, families, and educators who disrupt Whiteness and other forms of oppression," the group states in its guide.

The network's co-founder said during a webinar: "I want us to be feared."

"The Department does not endorse the recommendations of this group, nor do they reflect our policy positions. It was an error in a lengthy document to include this citation," a department spokesperson told Fox News hours after the first story was published.

Fox News has repeatedly asked why the link to the Abolitionist Teaching Network was included and who added it, but the Department of Education has not provided any answers.

Other Republicans have criticized the Biden administration for promoting the network.

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"President Biden has supported Critical Race Theory since he took office—no one believes this was an honest mistake," Sen. Tom Cotton, R, Ark., told Fox News in a statement. "If the Biden administration doesn’t support this sort of radical racist ideology, it should publicly condemn Critical Race Theory and stop it from being promoted in the federal government."

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who chairs the Republican Attorneys General Association, said the Department of Education's reversal "is a big win for parents."

"The Biden Administration is walking back its rule making and calling radical ties an error largely because @RepublicanAGs pressured them to do the right thing," Wilson tweeted Wednesday.