President Joe Biden will reportedly sign a Republican-led measure to end the national COVID-19 emergency.
Once the bill gets to his desk, the president will not veto it, despite still being “strongly” in opposition, a Biden administration official told The Associated Press (AP).
The measure passed the Senate for the third time Wednesday in a vote of 68 to 23, and now awaits Biden’s signature.
Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, one of the bill’s main sponsors, called on the administration to terminate the “authoritarian” emergency powers given to the president at the start of the pandemic.
The bill consists of one sentence directing the national emergency declared on March 13, 2020 to be “terminated.”
“Emergency powers are given to the Executive branch, so the Commander in Chief has the flexibility to quickly act in the event of a crisis. That declaration was appropriate in 2020, but it’s time for the proper constitutional checks and balances to be restored; it’s time to end any and all authoritarian control and unilateral spending decisions without Congressional consent,” Marshall said on the Senate floor.
Marshall said he hopes “that the rumors are true — that the president will finally sign this legislation,” The AP reported.
????BREAKING????
Our resolution forcing Joe Biden to give up his pandemic emergency powers just PASSED for the THIRD time. 67 of my colleagues said this national emergency is over.
It’s time for Biden to do what he should have done months ago and end the COVID national emergency.
— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) March 29, 2023
The Biden administration previously voiced opposition to the bill, saying in November of 2022 that ending “these authorities abruptly and prematurely would be a reckless and costly mistake.”
In January, the White House set its own date to terminate the national COVID-19 emergency on May 11, 2023. (RELATED: Biden Sides With Republicans, Blocks DC’s New Crime Law)
Biden recently signed a Republican-led measure to block a relaxed Washington, D.C., crime law that the administration had previously vowed to oppose, sparking backlash within the Democratic Party.
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