Sen. Rand Paul grilled Dr. Anthony Fauci during a congressional hearing on Tuesday about the wisdom of putting the country under the dictates of “central planners.”
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, was addressing the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican from Kentucky, pointedly questioned Fauci about his liberal dispensation of coronavirus-related advice, including regarding the conditions for reopening schools and restarting organized sports.
- “We shouldn’t presume that a group of experts somehow knows what’s best for everyone. Perhaps our planners might think twice before they weigh in on every subject,” said Paul, who in March became the first U.S. senator to test positive for the coronavirus.
- “It’s important to realize that if society meekly submits to an expert, and that expert is wrong, a great deal of harm may occur when we allow one man’s policy, or one small group of men and women’s, to be foisted on an entire nation.”
- “Take for example government experts who continue to call for schools and day care to stay closed or that recommend restrictions that make it impossible for a school to function,” he added.
Paul also presented data from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark, where reopening schools was found to have little impact on the spread of the coronavirus.
Fauci agreed on the importance of getting American children back to school, but urged caution as case counts have spiked across the country.
Paul and Facui sparred over similar issues in a congressional hearing last month.
