During an appearance on CBS’s 60 Minutes Sunday night, President Joe Biden said he believes the COVID-19 pandemic has come to an end.
Now, Congressman Michael Guest (R-Miss.) has joined 16 other Republicans in a letter to Biden requesting the termination of the COVID-19 national emergency declaration.
“The president made it clear that the pandemic is over in his interview on ‘60 Minutes.’ It appears that the only reason the president would continue this national emergency declaration is to wield it as a tool to push through his own agenda,” Guest said. “The pandemic is behind us — it’s time we move forward by ending the emergency declaration.”
The letter to the president argues that the money spent under the emergency declaration has led to the country’s recent economic woes, including the highest inflation rate in over four decades.
“In a Sept. 18, 2022 episode of ‘60 Minutes’ you stated that ‘the pandemic is over.’ We firmly agree with this statement and request you terminate the national emergency concerning the COVID-19 outbreak declared in Proclamation 9994,” the letter reads.
“Under the emergency declaration, the federal government is estimated to have spent upwards of $10 trillion, resulting in an economic crisis, record inflation, and contributing to our nearly $31 trillion national debt. While Americans continue to deal with the lasting effects of COVID-19, the powers provided to the federal government by Proclamation 9994 are unnecessary.”
Other than Guest, Representatives Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Jefferson Van Drew (R-N.J.), Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), Greg Steube (R-Fla.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Ben Cline (R-Va.), John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.), Clay Higgins (R-La.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Randy Weber (R-Texas), Chip Roy (R-Texas), Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), and Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.) signed the letter.
