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FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., plans to introduce legislation on Monday that aims to end the current COVID-19 national emergency declaration.
The legislation is powered by a provision in the National Emergencies Act (NEA), a law that, when invoked, grants presidents special powers to deal with national emergencies outside natural disasters or war.
Marshall’s bill would revoke many of the federal government’s expanded powers to respond to the pandemic on a national level.
FAUCI SAYS ‘FULL-BLOWN’ COVID-19 PANDEMIC IS ALMOST OVER IN US
“With COVID cases and hospitalizations on the decline, 94 percent of Americans having immunity to COVID, mask mandates falling by the wayside, and 70 percent of Americans agreeing ‘it’s time we accept that COVID is here to stay’ and that ‘we just need to get on with our lives,’ it’s clear we need a new approach to COVID as we learn to live with it,” Marshall told Fox News Digital in a Monday email.
“That new approach starts with putting an end to the COVID national state of emergency,” the senator continued.
Both Presidents Trump and Biden invoked the NEA to enact and continue the national emergency to deal with the pandemic.
President Joe Biden attends a virtual COVID-19 summit during the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The emergency declaration was extended by Biden until March 1, 2022 — a date that is fast approaching. It is likely the president will extend the emergency declaration again.
Congress is charged with determining whether an emergency under the NEA should continue but has mostly ceded the decision up to the executive branch.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
There have only been six termination resolutions since the enactment of the NEA, and there are currently 31 national emergencies that have been in effect since the Carter administration.
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The Kansas Republican recently penned an opinion piece calling for a return to normalcy while pointing out the media and health officials’ roles in stoking fear about the pandemic.
Marshall plans to drop the legislation today at 3 p.m., as the Senate floor opens for business.
