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EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans are launching an investigation into the Department of Education for allegedly allowing COVID-19 relief funds to pay for "racially biased" and other far-left programs in public schools.

House Committee on Oversight and Reform ranking member James Comer, R-Ky., and Education and Labor Committee ranking member Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., led a series of letters signed by 30 GOP lawmakers and sent Wednesday afternoon to Education Department Secretary Miguel Cardona and others.

"Republicans are investigating the use of COVID-19 relief dollars appropriated for virus mitigation and the safe reopening of schools," the lawmakers said in their letter. "Based on recent reports, the Department of Education is allowing Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and related COVID relief funds to pay for racially biased and other progressive leftist programs."

They state that Congress allotted $13.2 billion in the CARES Act and $54.3 billion in the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, which were intended to enable schools to reopen safely after the pandemic and assess learning loss.

COTTON PRESSES CARDONA ON TEACHERS UNION LETTER URGING SOCIAL MEDIA TO STIFLE OPPOSITION TO CRT

Miguel Cardona speaks after his nomination for education secretary on Dec. 23, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaware. (Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)

An additional $122 billion was provided under the American Rescue Plan, President Biden's signature legislation, for school reopening and to "address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Nation's students."

However, Republican lawmakers say that instead of using ESSER funds to address learning loss, some states, including California, New York and Illinois, are using those funds to "push progressive left causes."

The congressmen cite how California allegedly used ESSER funds for "LGBTQ+ cultural competency" trainings, New York used $9 billion to fund "equity warriors" development, and Illinois used over $5 billion to make "equity driven investments."

Residents of Loudoun County, Virginia, have helped make critical race theory part of the national conversation in 2021. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

The lawmakers also accuse at least 10 other states of having plans that include a "proposal to use the ESSER funds to implement racially biased curriculum and programs based on Critical Race Theory."

One Republican committee aide told Fox News Digital that despite there being no meaningful guardrails in the legislation, the use of the funds for equity and diversityfalls outside of the law's intended purpose, which was to reopen schools and make up for lost learning.

The COVID relief legislation does include a final catchall provision allowing spending on "other activities necessary to maintain the operation of a continuity of services in local education agencies," which do not mention any certain trainings or curriculum.

Republicans are demanding all documents and communications related to the use of ESSER funds being used toward critical race theory, diversity, equity and inclusion and other racially biased trainings or programs, according to the letter.

President Joe Biden speaks on the cancer moonshot initiative at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, in Boston. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

The letters were sent to Cardona, Education Department Inspector General Sandra Bruce, New York State Department of Education Commissioner Betty Rosa, Illinois State Board of Education Superintendent Carmen Ayala, and California Department of Education Superintendent of Public Instruction and Director of Education Tony Thurmond.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education called the investigation a "partisan political attack."

"This is an absurd partisan political attack. COVID relief dollars were used to safely re-open schools and are currently being used to provide necessary academic and mental health supports and address equity issues to help students and families most impacted by the pandemic," said the spokesperson.

"The Department of Education has encouraged states to use ESSER funds for these purposes, and states and schools have done so all across the country, including in these members districts, despite the fact they voted against these critical school re-opening and recovery funds."

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Maria Clayton, director of the communications division for the California Department of Education called the investigation "factually inaccurate" and said the agency will be clarifying the use of the funds with the members of Congress on the letter.

"It is factually inaccurate that federal funds were used for that purpose. No federal ESSER dollars were spent in that way," she told Fox News Digital.

"I understand that these types of documents can be long and dense, but it is important not to misread or misconstrue this information or to perpetuate misinterpretations," Clayton continued. "What California has done is to spend federal COVID-19 recovery funds on mitigation measures and ways to help students recover from the pandemic. We have spent this money to mitigate learning loss-- with tutoring, after school and summer programming-- on mental health counselors and wellness programs for students and on ways to keep students connected with tablets and Wi-Fi hot spots."

The New York State Department of Education did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.

The Illinois Department of Education confirmed that it used COVID-19 relief money for "equity" initiatives and that it is "troubling" that the Republicans are criticizing their action.

"Yes, equity drives all of our investments, especially our investments of federal pandemic relief funds into high-impact tutoring, closing the digital divide, summer and afterschool programs, and mental health community partnerships," responded Jackie Matthews, executive director of communications for the Illinois State Board of Education.

"Equity means providing all schools with the funding and supports they need for all students to meet high expectations -- which is a strange and troubling thing to see anyone criticize," she continued."

Cardona has previously denied that critical race theory is being taught in K-12 schools.

Kelly Laco is a politics editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Kelly.Laco@Fox.com and on Twitter: @kelly_laco.

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House Republicans investigate Education Dept for allegedly using COVID relief to fund critical race theory - Fox News

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Endorsed Republicans Sala, Fafard and Iannitelli move on to November - Valley Breeze

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Fox News contributor Karl Rove offered midterm campaign advice to Republicans, Thursday, reacting on "Americas Newsroom" to a new Fox News Poll showing a majority of voters believe the Biden administration is incompetent.

CHUCK SCHUMER SAYS NANCY PELOSI IS IN TROUBLE, DECLARES DEMOCRATS WILL LOSE HOUSE: REPORT

KARL ROVE: They're approaching one out of every three Americans [who] thinks [Biden's] competent and nearly two out of three don't. So this is why if the election is a referendum on Joe Biden, the Democrats are in trouble. If it's about other things, it helps them.

The Democrats really only have two things: one is the abortion issue. And second of all, the hope that something happens, that events intrude, and that the election is more about something other than Joe Biden. If it's about Joe Biden, this is an opportunity for people to send a message that you better do better, and we want to check and balance you. But that's what the Republicans have got to fight to make their issue all about. And anything that interferes with that isn't helpful to the Republicans.

This article was written by Fox News staff.

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Karl Rove: Democrats are in trouble if Republicans make the midterms a referendum on Biden - Fox News

Republican candidate for governor Christine Drazan on Wednesday disclosed that her campaign received another $1 million from the Republican Governors Association, bringing the total spent directly by the national group to nearly $2.6 million.

A Republican has not occupied the states highest office since 1987. But party leaders are optimistic about their chances of retaking the governors mansion this year because of the large portion of Oregon voters who believe the state is headed in the wrong direction and the potential for well-funded unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson to draw votes from the Democrat, former House speaker Tina Kotek. Johnson is a former center-right Democratic state lawmaker who served since 2001.

Johnsons presence in the race and her retention of a key Oregon Republican fundraiser has cut into Drazans ability to stack up donations from major in-state GOP donors. For example, billionaire Nike co-founder Phil Knight has donated $1.75 million to Johnsons campaign, helping to bring Johnsons total fundraising to $11.1 million as of August 14, the most recent information reported by her campaign.

Drazan, who is reporting her fundraising and spending within hours or days of the transactions, has raised $9.1 million since January 2021. Drazan is the former leader of Oregons House Republican caucus.

Kotek, who is reporting her campaign transactions within a week, reported raising $8.9 million as of Sept. 7.

Hillary Borrud

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National Republicans drop another $1 million on race for Oregon governor - OregonLive

With the announcement on Tuesday that consumer-price inflation had been higher than expected in August, the recent string of positive economic news for Joe Biden and the Democrats came to an end. The headline inflation rate declined from 8.5 per cent in July to 8.3 per cent last month, the latest Labor Department report shows, but the core rate, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, increased from 5.9 per cent to 6.3 per cent as the cost of rent, new cars, and other items rose in what the report called a broad-based increase. Economists and the Federal Reserve monitor the core rate closely, because they believe it gives an accurate picture of underlying trends. The central question now is whether the Fed chairman, Jerome Powell, and his colleagues will raise interest rates more aggressively to temper inflationa step that could inadvertently tip the economy into a recession.

The inflation report prompted a big sell-off on Wall Street: stocks suffered their biggest drop in more than two years. However, amidst renewed criticism of the Biden Administration from Republican leaders, the Consumer Price Index (C.P.I.) report needs to be put into perspective. Despite some concerning features, it did confirm that over-all inflation pressures are gradually easing, although not as rapidly as many consumers would like to see. In June, the headline rate was 9.1 per cent, so in two months it has declined by 0.8 percentage points. And, even though the core rate rose, there are reasons to believe it will fall considerably in the coming months. Big picture, the core C.P.I. rate is still slowly coming down, Ian Shepherdson, a chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, told me. I have no doubt it is going to come down considerably over the next six months.

As Biden was quick to point out, gas prices dropped sharply over the summer. Where prices go from here depends on what happens in the global oil market, which is difficult to predict. But the price of crude oil fell again on Tuesday, and, if this continues, prices at the pump will keep trending down. How far? Barring hurricanes or unexpected outages... the national average could decline to $3.49, then $3.25, Patrick De Haan, a petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, a tech company that helps people find cheap gas, told Yahoo finance. And its not impossible that we could be on the road to a $2.99 national average by the end of the year.

Cheaper gas is good news for motorists, obviously, but it also augurs well for anyone who buys food, which means practically everyone. Over the past twelve months, according to the August report, the cost of food eaten in or out of the home has risen by 11.4 per cent, the biggest annual increase since May, 1979. One of the things that propelled food prices upward was sharply higher transportation costs. With lower fuel prices, these costs are now falling, which should eventually lead to lower food prices. If it doesnt, someone somewhere is profiteering. The same goes for airfares, which dropped 4.6 per cent last month. With the cost of jet fuel having declined sharply during the summer, fares for autumn should fall a good deal further.

Then there is the global supply-chain crisis, which is finally starting to ease. This is particularly evident in the auto industry. The last couple of years has seen a severe shortage of new vehicles, which has led to dramatic increases in the prices of used cars. More recently, however, auction prices for used cars have fallen sharplyby four per cent in August alone, according to one industry index. As yet, those lower auction prices havent led to a big drop in the prices that auto dealers charge for used vehicles. This should happen soon. And as used cars get considerably cheaper, that should constrain the ability of dealers to raise the prices of new ones. With vehicles accounting for about eleven per cent of the C.P.I., these developments are far from trivial.

Another factor to consider is the role that rents, which make up almost a third of the C.P.I.i.e., a huge part of itare playing in keeping inflation high. In the past twelve months, according to the August report, rents for primary residences have risen by 6.7 per cent. (This figure includes rents paid by people on longer-term leases, so it takes into account the much bigger hikes for new leases seen in some places, such as parts of New York City.)

Higher rents reflect multiple factors, including strong demand, a shortage of available rentals, and soaring real-estate prices, which have priced out some would-be buyers and turned them into renters. As the Fed has increased the federal-funds rate recently, mortgage rates have gone up sharply as well. As a result, home sales have slowed, and prices are now falling in many parts of the country. If they continue to drop, and they likely will, buying will become a more attractive option, which will reduce the demand for rentals. That, in turn, should put downward pressure on rents. Unfortunately, this could take a while. While we anticipate housing cost pressures to ease in the coming months on the back of a sharp pullback in housing demand, cooler price momentum wont be evident for a few more months, Gregory Daco, a chief economist at EY-Parthenon, wrote in a commentary on the inflation report.

On the basis of these and other factors, including a compression of profit margins as pandemic-related restrictions on supply continue to ease, Shepherdson is predicting that by March of next year the core inflation rate will have dropped from 6.3 to 4.8 per cent. He also cited Wednesdays release of the Producer Price Index for August, a separate report, which showed that prices at the wholesale level fell slightly over the month, and increased by 8.7 per cent on an annual basis, the smallest increase in a year. It unambiguously showed inflation coming down across both the goods and services sectors, he noted.

In their eagerness to shift the focus of the midterms from Donald Trump and abortion rights to inflation and the cost of living, Republicans are skating over any encouraging economic developments, of course. The danger is that with just one monthly inflation report left before voting dayit will be released on October 13ththeir messaging could resonate. Although Bidens approval ratings have rebounded somewhat in recent weeks, a new Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll indicates that fifty-four per cent of Americans still believe that their personal finances are getting worse. (Forty-six per cent of respondents said that their situation is improving or unchanged.)

With prices still rising faster than wages, these poll findings arent surprising. But with the over-all inflation rate declining, and with wage pressures and inflation expectations contained, there are still reasons for optimism and no justification for the Fed to panic. When Powell and his colleagues meet next week, the Fed chief should make this clear and resist calls for more drastic increases in interest rates. Getting inflation down will take some time, but the process is already ongoing.

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The Inflation Picture Isnt as Negative as Republicans and the Markets Are Saying - The New Yorker