Democrat Blocks Resolution to End National COVID-19 Emergency
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Sept. 28 blocked a resolution that would aim the national emergency declaration over COVID-19.
Wyden stepped in after Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), a doctor, introduced the resolution.
The one-page measure would terminate the national emergency declaration, which was initially declared by the Trump administration and has been extended through the present day by the Biden administration.
“It is this declaration, coupled with other additional emergency powers currently invoked by the president, which this administration is using to supersize government in order to continue their reckless inflationary spending spree and enact their partisan agenda,” Marshall said on the Senate floor in Washington. “In fact, the White House uses these emergencies to justify their inflationary out-of-control spending, their unconstitutional vaccine and mask mandates, and to forgive student loans.”
The declaration has enabled the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to require data reporting and the Department of Health and Human Services to waive certain requirements for Medicare and Medicaid. It was cited by the Biden administration when officials announced in August that they would cancel thousands of dollars in student debt for millions of Americans.
Marshall, a member of the Senate Health Committee noted that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, recently said that the COVID-19 pandemic is “over,” which he said should mean the end of the emergency.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) speaks to reporters in Washington on Aug. 5, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a member of the Subcommittee on Health Care, said that ending the emergency would exacerbate doctor and nursing shortages.
“Right now, there are requirements in Medicare for a lengthy process that must be completed before it’s possible to hire healthcare providers to serve Medicare patients,” Wyden said. “If the Marshall proposal goes into
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