With the stroke of a pen and a smile, President Disaster has declared an end to the COVID-19 national emergency by signing [1] a Republican-led bill. The other emergency, the public health emergency, still continues until May 11th. That’s when Biden and the Democrats will finally let it expire. Both emergencies were set to end in May according to the Biden-Harris administration but the national emergency ended a few weeks earlier than expected.
The end of both emergencies will stop a bunch of stuff [2] the government has been doing to hand out free money and services. In addition to the end of the emergencies affecting government nutrition assistance, it will also allow more illegal aliens in to the country with Title 42 expiring on May 11th. Additionally, most people will be paying for their own COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatment now and Medicare coverage requirements waived during the pandemic will be resumed. Hospitals will also lose their 20% bump in Medicare payments to treat Covid patients.
The emergencies were a great excuse for the feds, states and local authorities (and businesses) to push through, or try to push through, all sorts of tyrannical rules including vaccination requirements, mask requirements, school shut-downs and more. It was an open door for the whole country to go communist on us – which is kind of ironic since the virus came from China. It was one of the largest, if not the largest, assaults on the Constitution and our freedoms.
So what’s the difference between the two emergencies (since no one is telling you)?
According to KFF [3], an independent source of health policy research, the public health emergency was declared by the Secretary of the Dept. of Health and Humane Services in late January 2020, pursuant to Section 319 of the Public Health Service Act (PHE). A PHE last for 90 days and continued to be renewed, most recently in February.
The national emergency declaration was made by former President Donald Trump in March of 2020 pursuant to Section 201 of the National Emergencies Act. It remains in effect until terminated by the President or through a joint resolution of Congress – or if the president doesn’t issue a continuation notice annually. In this case, Congress ended it – with a Biden signature at the end.
Also to keep in mind…When the public health emergency ends on May 11th, so does Title 42.
Title 42 has allowed the government to take emergency action to stop the “introduction of communicable diseases.” In the case of COVID-19, the Trump administration (and Biden’s as well) has used it to designate illegal aliens for “expulsion” to stop the spread of the pandemic. Illegal aliens who seek asylum can be turned away.
It has been expected that when Title 42 ends, it will bring even more chaos to the southern border because it means that more illegal aliens will enter the country. And that’s no emergency for the democrats. In fact, it’s a welcomed and much-pursued gift.