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“President Joe Biden informed Congress on Monday that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared.” AP News
“The Republican-controlled House on Wednesday passed a resolution that would immediately end the COVID-19 national emergency first declared in March 2020… It is not, however, expected to move in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.” The Hill
The right calls for an immediate end to the emergency, arguing that such a decision is long overdue.
“The president declared the crisis moment had passed Sept. 18, 2022, when he appeared on ‘60 Minutes’ and said ‘the pandemic is over.’ On Jan. 30, 2023, the White House announced the official ‘COVID emergency’ would come to an end in May 2023. That’s eight months after Biden’s ‘60 Minutes’ claim… “Why May? Well, according to The New York Times, the Biden White House wants ‘an orderly transition out of the public health emergency.’ Welcome to Orwell-ville. An ‘orderly transition’ out of an emergency is to end all emergency measures the second the emergency is over.”
John Podhoretz, New York Post
“The president and his administration have enjoyed the extra powers that have accompanied the national emergency declaration. And they are working hard to cling to this authority… The Biden administration won't give up on its plan to ‘forgive’ hundreds of billions of dollars of federal student loan debt. Biden did this through executive action – with the national emergency over COVID-19 as the rationale… “While loan forgiveness is on hold, Biden hasn’t stopped meddling in student debt, separating personal responsibility from borrowing decisions. In November, the administration once again extended the pause on student repayments, even after saying repeatedly it wouldn’t do so. And this month, it issued a proposed rule for income-driven loan repayments…“If Biden gets his way with debt cancellation, along with these other measures, the cost to taxpayers will balloon to as much as $600 billion – debt that the country can’t afford.”
Ingrid Jacques, USA Today
Last September, “The Washington Post’s editorial board [admitted]: If the emergency were to end, so, too, would a lot of desirable policies created as responses to that emergency. ‘When the official emergency ends,’ The Post’s editorial board lamented, ‘some 15 million will lose Medicaid coverage; the reason for a student loan repayment pause will end; the rationale for Trump-era border restrictions, still held in place by a court, will disappear.’… “The Covid ‘emergency’ has become self-justifying. It is decoupled from the conditions that precipitated it in the first place, and it now exists to justify policies that would otherwise have no legal predicate. Republicans can and should take back the power Congress granted to the presidency to meet a crisis that almost everyone agrees is over.”
Noah Rothman, MSNBC
The left generally supports the decision to end the emergency in May to ensure an orderly transition.
The left generally supports the decision to end the emergency in May to ensure an orderly transition.
“[In early 2020] the virus had a much higher fatality rate, and young, previously healthy people were succumbing to a deadly pneumonia. There were no vaccines and very limited treatments… [But now the] vast majority have some immunity because of vaccination, prior infection or both. Continuing to call covid a national emergency is out of step with public opinion, which has a major cost: When there is a true public health emergency in the future, many people might not believe health officials…“It’s far better for the White House to give advance notice than for there be an abrupt end to the declaration… Hospitals and insurers need time to adjust to pre-covid regulations while keeping in place positive improvements such as telemedicine access…“Plus, as many as 15 million low-income Americans could lose health insurance because the flexibilities around Medicaid coverage will cease when the declaration ends. States need additional assistance to keep eligible people in the program and to ensure that those without insurance can still access vaccines and treatments.”
Leana S. Wen, Washington Post
Dated But Relevant: “In some cases, the Biden administration has used its emergency powers wisely. It expanded Medicaid coverage, for instance, which boosted enrollment by 22 million people and gave states more than $100 billion in relief. Both were necessary during the height of the pandemic. It also provided liability protections to pharmacies to encourage them to conduct Covid testing and administer vaccines, which proved to be a big success… “But at the same time, the administration has used the array of emergency powers to advance a broader agenda… Now that the Covid crisis is contained, it’s untenable to keep emergency declarations in place.”
Michael R. Bloomberg, Bloomberg
“The period during which the pandemic inspired Americans to work together to limit infections and save lives is long over. Pushed by former president Donald Trump and his desire to be reelected, Republicans shifted to a position of individual responsibility (and culpability) early on. The combination of the vaccine and the mutated virus slowly made that position more tenable. Now, with Republicans eager to take credit for ending a community approach to the pandemic, Biden has decided that there’s political space for him to do so first.”
Philip Bump, Washington Post
