On Tuesday, House Republicans have passed a bill putting an end to the COVID-19 public health emergency, whether President Joe Biden likes it or not. The two-page Pandemic is Over Act was passed along partisan lines.
The Trump administration declared a public health emergency in January 2020, and it has been extended 12 times since then. The Biden administration announced that the emergency would end on May 11th, allowing for an orderly and predictable wind-down. However, House Republicans argued otherwise, citing President Biden’s comments from September that the pandemic is over and asserting that the emergency should come to a close immediately.
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), the lead sponsor of the bill, said during a debate on the House floor, “President Biden has taken too long to act on his statement last September that the pandemic is over, which is why I am moving forward with my bill to end the COVID-19 public health emergency and finally restore checks and balances between Congress and the executive branch.”
However, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) argued that the bill would “abruptly and irresponsibly end the COVID-19 public health emergency virtually overnight.” He pointed out that the bill would end the Title 42 policy, which allows border officials to turn away asylum seekers because of concerns regarding public health. If the public health emergency were to end, Title 42 would expire and thousands of migrants per day would be allowed into the country without the necessary policies in place.
Just look at New York City, Biden’s immigration policy is already crushing Democrats. Just imagine what would happen if Title 42 was removed. That scares Democrats to death.
Biden tried to jump out ahead of the bill claiming he would end the emergency on May 11, 2023; however, that led to a crazy circumstance with an umbrella.
The whole circumstance has completely embarrassed the White House and the President.
The COVID emergency will “end when the Supreme Court ends it.” What!? Since when is that the standard for ending a declared emergency? And did he not announce yesterday that he would be ending it on May 11th? https://t.co/qaOf5PqpUl
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) January 31, 2023
Folks, the State of the Union speech will be a hoot.
