HYDE-SMITH VOTES TO END COVID NATIONAL STATE OF EMERGENCY
Miss. Senator Says Most Americans Believe It’s Time to Continue Their Lives as Normally as Possible
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today voted to end the national emergency declared on March 13, 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
The Senate voted 48-47 to pass S.J.Res.38, a measure based on a provision within the National Emergencies Act (NEA) that allows Congress to pass a joint resolution to terminate a presidentially declared national emergency. The COVID national state of emergency was set to end March 1, 2022, but President Biden in February extended the emergency declaration without a specific end date.
“Most indications are that the coronavirus has entered an endemic stage, meaning we have the tests, vaccines, treatments, and capability to live with this illness that has spread throughout our society,” Hyde-Smith said. “Most Americans are no longer living in fear and have decided to continue their lives and work as normally as possible. They are through with shutdowns and mandates.”
“It is time to end the COVID national state of emergency and not cede open-ended emergency powers that permit executive branch spending and mandates,” she said.
Unfortunately, the White House has indicated that President Biden would veto S.J.Res.38 if passed by both chambers of Congress.
Hyde-Smith, who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, is among 35 Senators who this week requested President Biden provide an accounting of how the federal government has allocated trillions in taxpayer dollars to combat COVID-19. At the same time, the Biden administration has asked Congress for another $22.5 billion in pandemic-related emergency spending this year.
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