Democrats want to try and put COVID-19 behind them now that everyone else in the country has moved on. But maintaining that COVID-19 is still an “emergency” gives them an excuse to pursue unrelated policy goals, so they refuse to let go.
Senate Democrats just failed to block a GOP resolution to lift the emergency declaration from March 2020. It passed in a 48-47 vote. But the resolution isn’t likely to pass the House, and President Joe Biden promised to veto it, calling it “a reckless and costly mistake.”
Why would Biden do this after he promised COVID-19 “no longer need control our lives” at the State of the Union? Why would he do this at a time when Democratic governors nationwide have drastically scaled back COVID-19 restrictions and mandates? Well, it’s because he wants to spend more money.
Biden is asking for at least another $22.5 billion to combat COVID-19. That is down from the $30 billion the administration said was needed. In case you think the administration will stop at that request, Dr. Zeke Emanuel, an adviser to the White House who served on Biden’s transition COVID-19 Advisory Board, thinks we need to spend $100 billion just for the next year, with billions more to follow.
As of December, federal agencies still had not spent or even committed to spending $500 billion from previous COVID-19 aid.
Biden is also looking at extending the freeze on federal student loan payments, with White House chief of staff Ron Klain touting that “Joe Biden right now is the only president in history where no one’s paid on their student loans for the entirety of his presidency.” Much like the administration’s eviction moratorium, which only ended because the Supreme Court finally blocked it, the original justification for this policy was, of course, the COVID-19 emergency.
The pandemic has been Biden’s convenient excuse for destructive policies since he took office. Given that his agenda stalled in Congress months ago and Democrats won’t hold their majorities much longer, Biden wants to cling to the emergency so he can try and continue his “transformational” presidency. Biden wants to drag out pandemic policymaking as much as possible, so he and congressional Democrats will drag out the “emergency” as long as possible.
