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

Floor Speech

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Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I rise today in support of H.J. Res 7, a bill that will immediately terminate the COVID-19 national emergency declaration.

Over a year ago, this body voted to end the COVID national emergency declaration. Actually, it has been a year and 26 days ago. Then, it was just 5 months ago that this body voted for a second time to end the COVID national emergency with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 61 to 37. Today, we hope the third time is the charm, that the rumors are true that the President will finally sign this legislation and end this chapter of physical, mental, and financial strife seldom seen in our world's modern history.

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. That declaration was appropriate in 2020, but now it is time for the proper constitutional checks and balances to be restored. It is time to end any and all authoritarian control and unilateral spending decisions without congressional consent.

Many, many Kansans have asked me, ``What's the holdup, why is the White House waiting to end this emergency declaration?'' Well, sadly, I have to tell them, because the emergency declaration has allowed the administration to justify increased spending and push harmful mandates.

Under this national emergency, we have seen a massive increase in government spending across the board. This spending over the past 2 years has resulted in the highest level of inflation Americans have encountered in 40 years. The gross Federal debt has increased by $3.7 trillion--$3.7 trillion--since this President took office, an increase of 12 percent. We sadly watched as interest rate hikes, combined with skyrocketing inflation, have raised the amount of debt many Americans hold and made almost everything cost more.

On top of all of this, the authority granted to the President by this emergency declaration has been the direct justification for the White House's efforts to cancel as much as $20,000 in debt for Federal student loan holders--a plan that would cost taxpayers an additional $400 billion.

We all understand what it means when politicians say: Never let a good crisis go to waste. But it doesn't stop there. With the national emergency in place, the administration also moved to mandate vaccines for private companies with 100 or more employees. If not halted by the courts, this massive Federal overreach would have forced millions of Americans to choose between the jab or their job.

Next, the White House tried to force healthcare workers, Federal employees, contractors, and even members of our military to receive the vaccine against their choice. Thankfully, these were also halted by the courts across the country.

These are the consequences of a 3-year emergency declaration. Take a good look at the decisions made under this prolonged, supersized government rule, and you will quickly understand why our Founding Fathers warned of this type of abuse of power when they authored the Constitution and made it a top priority to keep each branch of government in line with systems of checks and balances.

I come to the floor today hopefully for one last vote on terminating this declaration.

Is the emergency indeed over? Well, our President himself said as much in a September 2022 interview on CBS's ``60 Minutes.'' I quote the President's direct words: ``The pandemic is over.''

Enough is enough. It is time to end this chapter and let Americans get back to their own lives.

I ask my colleagues to join me again in a strong bipartisan fashion in sending this resolution to the President's desk to end the national emergency declaration for COVID-19 once and for all today.

Vote on H.J. Res. 7

The joint resolution was ordered to a third reading and was read the third time.
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