Covid Emergency’s Over, Biden Declares, but Many Emergency Declarations Remain

Seven months ago, President Biden told a 60 Minutes interviewer that “the pandemic is over.” That didn’t stop his administration from repeatedly extending emergency declarations and measures and from seeking hundreds of billions of dollars more to combat Covid-19.

Congress has apparently had enough. A bipartisan group of legislators recently passed a resolution sponsored by Republican Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona to terminate the Covid-19 national-emergency declaration originally proclaimed in March 2020.

The support of so many Democrats is remarkable considering that less than two years ago Gosar was censured and stripped of committee assignments by House Democrats for posting an altered Japanese anime video showing a figure with Gosar’s superimposed face attacking figures with the faces of Biden and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — a video that Gosar insisted was symbolic and not meant to “espouse violence or harm toward any member of Congress.”

Biden had repeatedly extended the national emergency and failed to provide Congress with six-month accountings of all expenditures related to dealing with the emergency, as required by the National Emergencies Act.

© Paragon Health Institute 2023. All Rights Reserved.

Paragon Health Institute (PHI) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit policy research institute. Any views, beliefs, or opinions expressed by PHI’s Public Advisors are those of its Advisors and do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of PHI or its employees. Any views, beliefs, or opinions expressed by PHI or its employees belong solely to PHI and do not necessarily reflect those of PHI’s Public Advisors.