Posted on 12/19/2022 6:50:18 PM PST by lightman
Twenty-five governors are urging President Joe Biden to end the COVID-19 public health emergency, which has remained in place despite a drop in COVID-19 metrics and the emergence of less virulent variants.
The governors say the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic is and has been over for some time, noting that Biden himself said in September that “the pandemic is over.”
They also pointed out that the Senate in a bipartisan vote in November passed a resolution that would terminate the emergency, though the House of Representatives hasn’t taken up the measure yet.
“We agree with both your statement and the Senate’s resolution – it is time we move on from the pandemic and get back to life as normal,” Gov. Chris Sununu (R-N.H.) and 24 other Republican governors wrote to Biden in a Dec. 19 letter.
The public health emergency is harming states by enabling bloated Medicaid rolls, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, the governors said. Since the beginning of the pandemic, states have added 20 million people to the rolls—an increase of 30 percent. Until the emergency ends, the population covered by Medicaid will continue to grow, regardless of whether people are still eligible, the governors warned.
Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, Medicaid programs must keep people enrolled through the end of the public health emergency. In exchange, states received additional federal funding. Emergency Repeatedly Extended
Then-President Donald Trump declared the public health emergency for COVID-19 on March 13, 2020. The Trump administration extended it multiple times, and the Biden administration has continued extending it since taking control in January 2021.
In the most recent renewal, Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Biden appointee, said that a public health emergency (PHE) still exists.
Becerra said he consulted with public health officials before entering the extension.
Top Biden administration officials have said they’ll give states 60 days’ warning before ending the emergency.
That promise remains in place, Sarah Lovenheim, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, said in November.
The latest extension took the emergency through Jan. 11, 2023. Since there’s been no warning, the governors are expecting the emergency to be extended yet again. They’re already looking ahead to April 2023.
“We urge you to end the national emergency and the PHE in April and provide states notice of those intentions well in advance to allow us to adequately plan for the future,” the governors wrote to Biden.
The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment. Some States Act
Some governors, even Democrats, have recently ended state-level emergency declarations.
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee, for instance, announced in October that the state’s declaration was ending.
Inslee’s administration said that the pandemic still exists but “it’s no longer an emergency thanks to vaccinations, medical treatments, and the innumerable efforts of countless Washingtonians since the state had the nation’s first documented case in January 2020.”
“We’ve come a long way the past two years in developing the tools that allow us to adapt and live with COVID-19,” Inslee said. “Ending this order does not mean we take it less seriously or will lose focus on how this virus has changed the way we live. We will continue our commitments to the public’s well-being, but simply through different tools that are now more appropriate for the era we’ve entered.”
Others have previewed the expiration of an emergency. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for instance, said that the declaration there would end on Feb. 28, 2023. Nine other states still have emergency declarations in place.
Others rescinded or terminated the declarations in 2021, when cases, hospitalizations, and deaths linked to COVID-19 dropped dramatically, or in early 2022. Senate Measure
In a rare bipartisan vote, senators passed a measure in November that would terminate the emergency.
“It is with this national emergency declaration, in tandem with other additional powers currently invoked by the president, which this administration is manipulating to super size government powers,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), who sponsored the measure, said on the Senate floor in Washington. “And now it’s obvious they need these powers to continue their spending spree to enact their radical partisan agenda and grow government dependency through further expansion of our welfare state.”
Thirteen Democrats sided with Republicans to approve the resolution.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) spoke out against the measure, saying that ending it would undercut the federal government’s ability to deal with the pandemic.
The House hasn’t taken up the measure, versions of which have been approved on three separate occasions by the Senate.
The White House said in a statement that even if the House approved the resolution, Biden would veto it.
“Continuing to protect against COVID-19 and ensuring that our response remains nimble are top priorities of this Administration,” the White House stated, adding that terminating the emergency would “unnecessarily and abruptly curtail the ability of the Administration to respond to COVID-19.”
Congress can override vetoes, but it requires a two-thirds vote in each chamber.
Chairman Xoe hid in his basement in 2020 except for those rare public appearances where masked folks sat outdoors in "safety circles".
The only thing he has to cheer is fear itself.
When hell freezes.
That means he will keep it.
And give up that power?
Should never have been declared an “emergency” in the first place.
These companies are trying to get their employees back to work in person, and the government is undermining them by extending this stupid “state of emergency” for months at a time.
“the corporate world is going crazy over this crap.”
Well, this is the same corporate world that is pushing DEI, DIE, wokeness, VAX Mandates, etc.
As far as I’m concerned, they can SUCK IT. I guess going Woke has consequences.
past time for the covid vaccine emergency.
this is a big story in Australia, written by one of the few journalists to question the official narrative:
20 Dec: news.com.au: Dr Kerryn Phelps reveals ‘devastating’ Covid vaccine injury, says doctors have been ‘censored’
Dr Kerryn Phelps has broken her silence about a “devastating” Covid vaccine injury, slamming regulators for “censoring” public discussion with “threats” to doctors.
by Frank Chung
EXCLUSIVE
Former federal MP (Member of Parliament) Dr Kerryn Phelps has revealed she and her wife both suffered serious and ongoing injures from Covid vaccines, while suggesting the true rate of adverse events is far higher than acknowledged due to underreporting and “threats” from medical regulators.
In an explosive submission to Parliament’s Long Covid inquiry, the former Australian Medical Association (AMA) president has broken her silence about the “devastating” experience — emerging as the most prominent public health figure in the country to speak up about the taboo subject.
“This is an issue that I have witnessed first-hand with my wife who suffered a severe neurological reaction to her first Pfizer vaccine within minutes, including burning face and gums, paraesethesiae, and numb hands and feet, while under observation by myself, another doctor and a registered nurse at the time of immunisation,” the 65-year-old said.
“I continue to observe the devastating effects a year-and-a-half later with the addition of fatigue and additional neurological symptoms including nerve pains, altered sense of smell, visual disturbance and musculoskeletal inflammation. The diagnosis and causation has been confirmed by several specialists who have told me that they have seen ‘a lot’ of patients in a similar situation.”...
Dr Phelps revealed she was also diagnosed with a vaccine injury from her second dose of Pfizer in July 2021, “with the diagnosis and causation confirmed by specialist colleagues”...
“Regulators of the medical profession have censored public discussion about adverse events following immunisation, with threats to doctors not to make any public statements about anything that ‘might undermine the government’s vaccine rollout’ or risk suspension or loss of their registration,” she wrote...
Dr Phelps said she had heard stories of vaccine injury from “patients and other members of the community”...
Dr Phelps, who remains a practising GP, was elected as the first female president of the AMA in 2000.
She was also a City of Sydney councillor from 2016 to 2021, and Deputy Lord Mayor under Clover Moore from 2016 to 2017.
In 2018, Dr Phelps ran as an independent candidate in the by-election for the eastern suburbs seat of Wentworth following the resignation of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, defeating Liberal (AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATIVE) Dave Sharma..
https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/human-body/dr-kerryn-phelps-reveals-devastating-covid-vaccine-injury-says-doctors-have-been-censored/news-story/0c1fa02818c99a5ff65f5bf852a382cf
should have noted Phelps was presiden of ***AMA, which is the ***AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.
He needs to keep it going for the student loan “debt relief” plan/bribery of $10-20K per borrower alone. It’s all predicated on the “emergency.”
What a racket!
Golly what timing. Just in time to end “covid emergencies” when the border is set to end “title 42” allowing millions of illegal invaders across the border.
Gee, that's not telling or anything.
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