Sen. Ron Johnson on CDC help for MPS lead issues: 'Is there really some secret expertise that the federal government has?'

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) told reporters Wednesday, May 28, he didn't believe Milwaukee health and education officials need help from the federal government in addressing dangerously high lead levels found in several Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) buildings.

Johnson made the comments while taking additional questions from reporters following his appearance at a Milwaukee Press Club panel event downtown Wednesday afternoon.

MPS and the Milwaukee Health Department learned in early April the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) would not be able to help the city test for lead in paint samples across the district. The Trump administration had laid off the CDC's entire lead team.

When asked if he believed the federal government could help assist Milwaukee test and clean schools, Johnson said he didn't see any unique purpose for federal help.

"I don't have a great deal of faith in the federal government, so I think this is something I think Milwaukee, that Wisconsin ought to be able to handle on its own," Johnson said. "I mean, is there really some secret expertise that the federal government has inside CDC? I doubt it. I just doubt it. We've known about this. Clean it up."

Tyler Weber, the city health department's deputy commissioner of environmental health, pushed back on Johnson's remarks. He said there are lead experts at the federal level who could've helped guide Milwaukee's response.

"There is expertise at the CDC that we could use; different types of risk analysis, data analysis, different skills and talents that they have that we haven't had access to," he said.

Weber also noted the CDC had maintained a nationwide database of blood lead tests taken across the country. He said that information is valuable in helping local government track lead trends in their own communities.

"Now, we don't know who's maintaining that database, and if that collapses, our ability to monitor lead poison across the country could collapse," Weber said. "And so, someone who makes a statement like that tells me they don't really know what's going on with lead poisoning, they don't understand what's going on at the federal level."

Officials from MPS and the health department held a town hall on the lead situation Wednesday at Rufus King International Middle School. It never really happened, as a single person -- a grandparent who also works for MPS -- showed up for the event. 

Weber and MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius agreed to take questions from reporters, and Weber said he felt the district was making progress based on the recent hiring of contractors to help clean MPS buildings throughout the summer.

MPS has stated its goal is to test and clean all 106 schools built before the 1978 federal ban on lead paint by December. District officials have yet to share an estimated cost for all of that work and which funds it will dip into to pay for it.

Cassellius said she believed there is a role for the federal government in helping MPS complete that work.

"I would say any time that we're looking at supporting children and families," she said. "We absolutely want our senators, our congressmen and women to help us whenever they can."