This article comes from “citizens.news”
On Monday, April 10, President Joe Biden signed a GOP-led bill to terminate the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) national emergency.
The Biden administration originally planned to extend the national emergency as well as the public health emergency until May 11. But shortly after the White House announced the plan, House Republicans put forth bills to end both as soon as possible. The approved measure only ended the national emergency.
According to the White House, Biden signed the measure behind closed doors after having publicly opposed the resolution, though not to the point of issuing a veto.
The Senate passed the bill 68-23 at the end of March, with bipartisan support of nearly two dozen Democrats. The House passed the legislation introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) in late January in a 220-210 vote, with nearly 200 House Democrats voting against it.
Rep. Gregory Murphy (R-NC) called the national emergency’s end a “major win for the American people.” (Related: President Biden to extend COVID-19 “national emergency” status.)
“Under the guise of COVID, President Biden and the Democrats were able to abuse emergency powers and go on a spending spree in order to prevent the American people from returning to normal,” he said in a statement. “After bipartisan votes in both chambers voted to end this declaration, President Biden finally was forced to end this declaration. Medicine needs to be rooted in hard, objective science, not politics.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) said that the House GOP’s efforts in overturning Washington’s pro-criminal, anti-police agenda and the end of the pandemic national emergency, only shows that Republicans are delivering real results for American families under the leadership of Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
House Republicans also launched probes on the origins of the virus and requested documents from top Biden officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The legislation ending the COVID-19 national emergency is expected to affect programs on mortgage forbearance at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It will also impact the relaxed Veteran Affairs Department requirements for home visits to evaluate eligibility for caregiver assistance.
A senior administration official said the end of the public health emergency is also expected to have a broader impact on policies such as Title 42, the pandemic-era rule that has blocked undocumented immigrants from crossing the southern border due to public health reasons.
Poll: Americans believe COVID-19 policy is Biden’s least priority
A recent survey by the nonpartisan think tank Pew Research Center indicated that Americans believe the COVID-19 policy is among the lowest priorities for the president and Congress to address this year.
According to the study, nine percent of the participants said policy on dealing with the coronavirus outbreak “should not be done” – the second highest only behind the action on climate change.
U.S. News‘ Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder commented that the early ending of the national emergency is likely with the 2024 presidential election in mind, and that Biden showed he is willing to bend to Republicans on certain issues.
The administration has already scaled back many resources related to the pandemic, such as ending its coronavirus press briefings and free at-home testing program. Biden is also reportedly planning to disband its White House COVID-19 response team next month.
However, many Americans still expressed their unpreparedness to move on from the pandemic as 51 percent believe the pandemic isn’t over, according to recent polling from Gallup. Moreover, they indicated that they haven’t fully returned to their pre-pandemic lives, with only one-third of respondents saying their lives are completely back to normal.
Also, a big part of the population believed life will never return to normal. Of the respondents who indicated their lives weren’t fully back to normal yet, 47 percent stated they don’t believe their lives will ever get completely back to the normal that existed before the pandemic, reflecting the same figures from polling done in late February and in October 2022.
“That’s a pretty telling figure that didn’t change in the last two readings,” remarked Megan Brenan of Gallup.
More updates on the COVID-19 pandemic can be found on Pandemic.news.
Watch the video below that talks about the Senate voting to end the coronavirus national emergency.