More than three years after then-President Donald Trump proclaimed the COVID-19 outbreak a national emergency, President Joe Biden on Monday signed a measure to terminate the national emergency.
When the H.J. Res. 7 measure passed the House chamber earlier this year, only 11 Democrats voted to approve it, but a larger number of Senate Democrats voted for passage when the measure cleared the Senate chamber in a 68-23 vote.
The Biden administration had opposed the measure that the president signed on Monday.
“The Administration strongly opposes enactment of H.R. 382 and H.J. Res. 7, which would be a grave disservice to the American people,” a statement of administration policy dated January 30, 2023 noted.
“The COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency (PHE) were declared by the Trump Administration in 2020. They are currently set to expire on March 1 and April 11, respectively. At present, the Administration’s plan is to extend the emergency declarations to May 11, and then end both emergencies on that date,” the administration’s statement said, warning that “an abrupt end to the emergency declarations would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system.”
While the measure Biden signed puts the kibosh on the national emergency, Politico indicated that it does not impact the public heath emergency.
“Based on current COVID-19 trends, the Department of Health and Human Services is planning for the federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 (PHE), declared under Section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, to expire at the end of the day on May 11, 2023,” a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services press release from late February stated.
Trump has already launched a 2024 presidential bid. Biden, who hosted the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday, has said that he plans to run but has stopped short of making a formal announcement.
In a statement on Monday about a deadly shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, Biden went after Republicans.
“How many more Americans must die before Republicans in Congress will act to protect our communities?” Biden asked in the statement, claiming that “from Florida to North Carolina to the U.S. House of Representatives, we’ve watched Republican officials double down on dangerous bills that make our schools, places of worship, and communities less safe.”
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