The Senate on Wednesday voted 68-23 to end the COVID-19 national emergency order that was implemented in 2020, and the White House said President Biden will sign the resolution, despite opposing the measure.

Senate votes to end COVID-19 national emergency

The Senate vote comes after the House in February voted 229-197 to end the COVID-19 national emergency order, with 11 Democrats joining 218 Republicans in support of the measure.

Ending the national emergency order — which is separate from the public health emergency order that is slated to expire in May — means certain waivers intended to help healthcare providers serve patients during the pandemic will end, Roll Call reports.

Those waivers from CMS include one that allows hospitals to screen patients for COVID-19 off-campus, one that requires private Medicare Advantage plans to cover services provided at out-of-network facilities, and another that allows hospices to not provide physical or occupational therapy during the emergency.

The White House announced that, while President Biden is opposed to the measure, he will not veto it.

"The President strongly opposes H J Res 7, and the administration is planning to wind down the COVID national emergency and public health emergency on May 11," a White House spokesperson said. "If this bill comes to his desk, however, he will sign it, and the administration will continue working with agencies to wind down the national emergency with as much notice as possible to Americans who could potentially be impacted."

Reaction

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), who led the effort in the Senate to pass the measure, said Congress needed to end the COVID-19 national emergency, which he argued has "allowed the administration to justify increased spending and push harmful mandates."

Marshall also noted that Biden declared that the pandemic was over last year. "Emergency powers are given to the executive branch so the commander in chief has the flexibility to quickly act in the event of a crisis," Marshall said. "That declaration was appropriate in 2020, but now it's time for the proper constitutional checks and balances to be restored. It's time to end any and all authoritarian control and unilateral spending decisions without congressional consent."

Some House Democrats expressed frustration that Biden will not veto the measure after the administration warned that repealing the emergency declaration "would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the healthcare system."

"Clearly we're going to need a better line of communication," said a Democrat who spoke to The Hill on condition of anonymity. "You should talk to some of the frontlines; the frontlines are the ones whose heads explode."

However, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), vice-chair of the House Democratic caucus, said whether the emergency ends in April or May makes little difference.

"It's almost April, my understanding is the Biden administration had set out May 11 as the date," he said. "So I think from a time perspective it just doesn't really matter whether it's May 11 or sometime in April, it's all around the same." (McIntire/Lesniewski, Roll Call, 3/29; Weaver, The Hill, 3/29; Lillis/Schnell, The Hill, 3/29)