Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Paul Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-09) issued the following statement following the United States Senate voting to end the Presidential COVID-19 national emergency declaration following the House of Representatives passage of H. J. Res 7 on February 1, 2023.  This legislation, first introduced by Congressman Gosar, terminates the COVID-19 national emergency declaration and thus terminates the extreme executive branch powers granted under that act that are now unnecessary and were abused by the Biden administration:

“I am pleased that both the Senate and House of Representatives have now passed legislation requiring the Biden administration to finally end the outdated and abusive COVID-19 national emergency declaration.  The pandemic has long been over, and there is no reason to keep emergency powers for an emergency that has ended.  Our long national nightmare is over.

Today’s actions by the Senate helps to end the more than 120 presidential authorities provided under the emergency declaration and safeguard our country from any further abuses by Mr. Biden.  The National Emergencies Act is meant to provide a check against presidential exploitation by mandating congressional review.  However, Nancy Pelosi willfully ignored the law and provided cover to Joe Biden when she was Speaker of the House by not once allowing a vote to end the COVID-19 national emergency declaration.  One such abuse was Mr. Biden’s use of the national emergency declaration as the justification for his failed student loan forgiveness “program.”

Ending the emergency powers will also open the door to allow Republicans in Congress the ability to claw back the billions of unspent dollars that Mr. Biden has moved around under the so-called guise of a pandemic and put towards strengthening Social Security.

Last September, Mr. Biden asserted “the pandemic is over,” ‘cases are down,’ and America has opened back up.  Yet, Joe Biden nevertheless extended the COVID-19 national emergency declaration simply to force Americans to live under extreme measures that deprive us of our freedoms.

“I want to thank Speaker McCarthy for working with me to get this across the finish line and I strongly urge Mr. Biden to sign into law my legislation ending the COVID-19 national emergency declaration,” concluded Congressman Gosar.

Background:

The National Emergencies Act (NEA) was passed in 1974 to reign in presidential emergency powers which are activated when a formal emergency is declared. On March 13, 2020, President Trump rightfully declared a national emergency concerning COVID-19.  At that time, there was insufficient evidence about the scope of the COVID pandemic, and a lot of misinformation from the CDC and others.  President Trump had no choice but to address it as a national emergency.  But by mid-2020, and certainly by 2021, enough data had been collected to know who was at risk and what the risk was.  It was obvious it was no longer a national emergency, but a limited pandemic that largely impacted the elderly and the immuno-compromised.  Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi repeatedly blocked debate about the merits of the extended declaration, as required by law. A provision in the NEA requires Congress to review termination of national emergencies, stating that after six months, and every six months after the emergency continues, Congress must meet to consider a resolution of termination.  In the 117th Congress, Congressman Gosar introduced multiple resolutions, including H.J.Res.46, to require Congress to debate the merits of the continued emergency declaration.  Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi changed the rules of the entire House to prevent members of Congress from considering the resolution.  On February 1, 2023, under the new Republican majority, the House of Representatives passed Congressman Gosar’s bill, H.J.Res 7 and the legislation was sent to the Senate where it was required to be considered in an expeditious manner.