The Senate approved, on Wednesday, a resolution ending the state of emergency declared by former US President Donald Trump three years ago at the start of the Corona virus pandemic, in a largely symbolic vote, according to the American newspaper “The Washington Post”.
According to the newspaper, although Democrats in the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly against the measure last February, Democrats in the Senate moved forward with it on Wednesday. The vote came after US President Joe Biden informed Congress last January that the national emergency would end next May.
The Senate approved the resolution under the Congressional Review Act, which allows it to overturn federal agency rules by a simple majority vote, by a vote of 68-23.
This decision is consistent with statements by two Biden administration officials, who spoke last November to Reuters, where they said that the United States will maintain a public health emergency for the “Covid-19” pandemic, allowing millions of Americans to take tests and receive vaccines and treatments for free, until April. at least.
The public health emergency was initially declared in January 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic began, and has been renewed every three months since then. But the government started, last August, to indicate that it plans to allow it to expire, last January.
The US Department of Health and Human Services has promised to give states 60 days notice before allowing the state of emergency to expire if it does not plan to renew it again in January. The second official said that the ministry did not provide such a notification, according to “Reuters”.