On Monday, the Biden Administration claimed that it has plans to finally end the official COVID-19 public health emergency status on May 11th of this year.
Axios reports that the move comes after the House GOP has already introduced resolutions ending the two separate emergency declarations, the public health emergency and the national health emergency. While the GOP resolutions would see the emergencies ended instantly, the Biden Administration’s plan calls for “phasing out” the emergency status.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) claimed, with no evidence, that “an abrupt end to the emergency declarations would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system.”
However, Republicans have voiced their support for keeping Title 42 in place even after the emergency declarations end, due to Title 42’s positive impact on immigration. The public health rule, first implemented during President Donald Trump’s administration, used the Chinese coronavirus pandemic to justify completely shutting down immigration into the country, both legal and illegal. Biden, as part of his open-borders approach to immigration, has sought to end the policy even as he keeps other COVID restrictions in place, thus fueling an already historic immigration crisis.
The OMB pointed out that voting to end the public health emergencies “would lift Title 42 immediately, and result in a substantial additional inflow of migrants at the Southwest border.”
In response, the representative who introduced the resolutions, Congressman Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), countered that his measure “absolutely does not end Title 42. That’s just not accurate.”
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has said that the House plans to move forward with the vote on Guthrie’s resolutions, asking “why would you allow 47% of the government to stay home for another five months?”
“The president said in September [the pandemic] was over,” McCarthy pointed out, highlighting how many of Biden’s public statements have contradicted the official actions of his administration regarding COVID restrictions.