Relating to A National Emergency Declared By the President on March 2020

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BRAUN. Mr. President, I rise here today--we are going to be voting here later on. In a recent Monmouth poll in January, respondents were asked if they agreed with this statement: ``COVID is here to stay and we just need to get on with our lives [and live with it].'' Seventy percent said they did agree with this, including half of all Democrats.

We have been through 2 years where we have been from here to there on it--if an early believer, take it seriously. We didn't know what it was going to have in store for us, but I think we do now.

So often you hear: Listen to the data; look at the science. Too often, it has kind of been the political science of it.

Vaccinations and natural immunity mean that a large majority of our country is already protected. Hospitalizations, serious illness, and even death from COVID we can see are really going in the right direction, thank goodness.

As therapeutics continue to improve, it is clear that most Americans are right--COVID is here to stay. It is endemic. We can't marinate in fear. We can't have lockdowns. We can't have one-size-fits-all for across the country. We have got to get on with our lives.

President Biden recently extended the Federal state of emergency under the National Emergencies Act indefinitely. I would like to point out, he is not alone there in the sense that most of our Governors have done the same. I only think in Florida and in Iowa--I would say that I am guessing most citizens living in a lot of these places would like their Governors to do likewise. This state of emergency makes robust powers available to the President during a crisis. It includes forgiving student loans, imposing travel restrictions, capital investments in neighborhoods deemed to be disproportionately affected by COVID.

When this emergency was first declared 2 years ago this week, it was needed. It was uncertain. It was gratifying to see that, in a bipartisan way, in March of 2020, we came together. But we have learned so much since then. Now, I think it has become a burden.

I cite 3 weeks ago--it was in a classroom in Las Vegas. You ought to look it up. It was announced there--this is different, but it was a mandate. It was that you had to wear a mask in the classroom. The kids, I think, embodied what this whole process has been about and that we are at a different place. It looked like they won the State championship in something.

We are there. Congress has a responsibility to vote on whether to approve these emergency declarations, as we will today.

Every State and community is easing COVID restrictions, and many of them have eliminated them entirely. Ideally, you fight something like this with maybe general guidance from here, but you let government where it is closest to the people dictate how this stuff should happen and how long it should be there.

It is past time for the President and Governors across the country to give up the extra powers granted to them under the COVID emergency declarations. If we are going to live with this virus and move forward as a country, we must end the national emergency authorization, and other Governors across the country should follow suit.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source