Surprisingly, Republicans just passed a bill in the Senate to end the COVID National Emergency which began in early 2020.
Unsurprisingly, not a single Democrat voted for the bill.
DC EXAMINER – Senate Republicans successfully passed a resolution to end the national state of emergency declaration from 2020 set in response to the coronavirus pandemic amid growing sentiment among the public that it’s time to accept the virus as part of the new normal.
The resolution to end the pandemic emergency declaration passed by a vote of 48 to 47 along party lines after Democrats, who need Vice President Kamala Harris to break ties in the 50-50 Senate, failed to get enough members to stop it. The measure is not expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House in order to make it to President Joe Biden’s desk for approval.
“The American people are worn out and yearning to be free,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican who is leading the measure. “The robust powers emergency declaration provides the federal government are no longer necessary, and Congress must debate and ultimately repeal them in order to begin the process of unwinding the powers the government took hold of during the peak of the crisis.”
The pandemic state of emergency was put in place in March 2020 by former President Donald Trump to confront the rising threat of COVID-19. The national emergency designation is powered by a law known as the National Emergencies Act, which grants the president expanded authority to deal with crises other than natural disasters and war.
Here’s how the vote went down:
I don’t understand why Democrats would vote against such a measure, especially in an election year. The American public is tired of this pandemic nonsense and really does want to get back to normal. You’d think they wouldn’t want such a vote on their record as badly as they are expected to get beat this year.
As far as the House goes, perhaps there are enough Red State Democrats that could help push this into passage. That would then put the emphasis on Biden to sign it.