House passes bill to end COVID-19 national emergency

The Republican-controlled House on Wednesday passed a bill that would immediately end the COVID-19 national emergency first declared in March 2020, brushing aside the Biden administration’s announcement that the declaration would expire in May.

The joint resolution cleared the House in a party-line 229-197 vote.

The measure, which spans just over one page, would terminate the COVID-19 national emergency once enacted. It is not, however, expected to move in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats. The Biden administration also came out against the measure.

House leaders announced on Friday that the resolution would come to the floor this week, teeing up a vote on the measure. But on Monday, the Biden administration announced the COVID-19 national emergency would be terminated on May 11 — putting itself on a collision course with the House GOP majority.

It was initially set to end on March 1, but the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said that date would be pushed by roughly two months. The administration also said the COVID-19 public health emergency, initially set to end on April 11, would expire on May 11.

The OMB in a statement argued that abruptly ending the emergency declaration and public health emergency “would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system — for states, for hospitals and doctors’ offices, and, most importantly, for tens of millions of Americans.”

Republicans still decided to plow ahead with their measure on Wednesday, arguing the emergency declaration must come to an end sooner rather than later.

The vote to end the emergency declaration followed a vote by the House on Tuesday to end the COVID-19 public health emergency. The bill cleared the chamber in a party-line vote, 220-210.

Former President Trump declared a national emergency in response to the spread of COVID-19 on March 13, 2020, a move that allowed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to mobilize personnel to support state and local agencies as they worked to combat the virus. The move also allowed FEMA to access billions of dollars.

Trump had issued a notice to extend the national emergency in January 2021, and President Biden did the same in February 2022. The declaration remains in effect unless the president ends it, Congress passes a joint resolution to do so or if the president does not issue an annual extension.