(RightIsRight.co) – The Republican-majority US House of Representatives has passed legislation to end the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, snubbing opposition from President Joe Biden’s White House.
The GOP quickly passed two bills – the Pandemic is Over Act and the Freedom for Health Care Workers Act. The latter would terminate the vaccination requirement for federal health care workers and was even supported by some Democrat House members, Fox News reported.
The White House had declared its opposition to both bills. On Monday, it had set May 11 as the date to end the national COVID-19 emergency.
However, the Republican House majority passed both bills by a 222-213 margin.
The Pandemic is Over Act, which declares an end to the public health emergency, was passed 220-210, with all present Republicans voting in favor and all present Democrats voting against.
However, the Freedom for Health Care Workers Act to nix the vaccination requirement for federal medics passed 227-203, with seven Democrats joining the GOP by voting in favor of it.
The leaders of the House Democrats spoke against both bills, with Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) warning the Pandemic is Over Act would “abruptly and irresponsibly end the COVID-19 public health emergency virtually overnight.”
The report outlined how the Democratic Party’s support for maintaining a high degree of COVID-19 pandemic-related emergency has declined in the past few months after, in an interview in September, President Joe Biden declared that the “pandemic is over.”
Shortly before New Year’s, the still Democrat-majority House and the Senate adopted the defense policy bill under which the Pentagon had to terminate its coronavirus vaccine mandate to service personnel. The House of Representatives passed the bill with 350 votes in favor and 80 against it.
Despite that, earlier this week, the White House made it clear it did not approve of the Republican plans to kill the government’s vaccination requirement for healthcare workers. It added that President Joe Biden would veto the bill if it passed the House and the Senate.
“While COVID-19 is no longer the disruptive threat that it once was, it makes no sense for Congress to reverse this protection for vulnerable patients, as well as our health care workers who have given so much to protect us,” the White House said.
At the same time, it did not say whether Biden would veto the bill ending the public health emergency.
“If the PHE were suddenly terminated, it would sow confusion and chaos into this critical wind-down. Due to this uncertainty, tens of millions of Americans could be at risk of abruptly losing their health insurance, and states could be at risk of losing billions of dollars in funding,” the White House added.
What is your opinion? Do you agree with the House GOP that the COVID-19 pandemic emergency declaration should be ended? Why or why not? Please share your thoughts by emailing [email protected]. Thank you.
