(LifeSiteNews) — The governors of half of all U.S. states called on the Biden administration Monday to finally revoke the ongoing state of emergency declared roughly three years ago in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. President Joe Biden had extended the nationwide COVID-19 emergency to January 2023 in October, then in November extended it again until April 2023.
In a December 19 letter, the governors pointed out that “the emergency phase of the pandemic is behind us,” and that “nearly three years” have passed since the federal government declared the public health emergency.
The letter was led by New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu and signed by another 24 governors, including Ron DeSantis of Florida, Greg Abbott of Texas, Kristi Noem of North Dakota, and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia.
“It is time we move on from the pandemic and get back to life as normal,” said Gov. @ChrisSununu.
25 US governors are urging President Biden to end the #COVID19 public health emergency, which has remained in place despite a drop in COVID-19 metrics. https://t.co/l4jOfA7zgq
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) December 19, 2022
The governors noted that Biden himself already acknowledged that the pandemic was “over” in a September interview with 60 Minutes (the White House later walked back the president’s comments and said it wouldn’t change its COVID policy), and highlighted the November 62-36 bipartisan Senate resolution to scrap the ongoing state of emergency.
“We agree with both your statement and the U.S. Senate’s resolution – it is time we move on from the pandemic and get back to life as normal,” they wrote.
The letter comes after U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, who has grabbed frequent headlines for grilling former White House COVID czar and outgoing National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) head Dr. Anthony Fauci on key aspects of the COVID-19 response, penned a November letter demanding that the Biden administration immediately revoke the state of emergency.
Sen. Paul called on Congress to end the national emergency if Biden failed to do soand quoted the U.S. Supreme Court in remarking that “there is no pandemic exception to the Constitution”.
READ: Rand Paul urges Biden to call off COVID national emergency immediately
Meanwhile, the December 19 letter by the 25 state governors also pointed out that the federal state of emergency isn’t the only emergency declaration related to COVID that has continued to slow progress away from COVID-19-related struggles.
The Federal Public Health Emergency (PHE) also remains in effect, something the signatories of the letter say “is negatively affecting states, primarily by artificially growing our population covered under Medicaid … regardless of whether individuals continue to be eligible under the program.” According to the governors, “[t]his is costing states hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Though initially slated to expire on January 11, 2023, the governors said they are “acting under the assumption that [the PHE] will be renewed for 90 days and expire in April 2023, unless it is extended again.”
Accordingly, they asked Biden to “allow the PHE to expire in April and provide states with much needed certainty well in advance of its expiration.”
It remains to be seen how or if Biden will respond to the request.
Last month, the White House reacted to the Senate’s vote to drop the state of emergency by declaring that Biden would veto the legislation even if the House of Representatives approved it, The Epoch Times pointed out. The Biden administration claimed that rolling back the emergency declaration would “abruptly curtail” its “ability … to respond to COVID-19.”
Regardless of the Biden administration’s apparent interest in retaining its ability to implement COVID controls, intrusive public health measures like mask mandates and vaccine requirements have drawn serious backlash, failed in the courts, and divided Americans. In addition, demand for ongoing booster jabs has plummeted amid the jabs’ sliding efficacy, failure to stop transmission, and the skyrocketing reports of adverse events connected with the experimental drugs.
READ: Pfizer to raise COVID vaccine prices by as much as 400% as demand for booster shots collapses
Many Americans remain very concerned about the COVID-19 shots’ safety and efficacy compared with the low risk to most otherwise healthy individuals presented by the virus itself. Moreover, a large number of people also harbor serious ethical reservations about the use of cells from aborted babies in the research and development of the drugs.
The vast majority of states have already dropped their own COVID emergency declarations, including liberal states like Washington that nixed its emergency status in October. Democrat-dominated California, however, has opted to extend its declaration well into February 2023.