Biden signs bill ending COVID national emergency with month to spare

WASHINGTON — President Biden signed a bill Monday ending the COVID-19 national emergency more than three years after it went into effect.

Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, issued the proclamation in March 2020 to temporarily expand the executive branch’s power to steer funds to battle the virus.

It’s unclear what immediate effect Biden’s signature will have on linked US policies, such as immigration policy and his student debt forgiveness plan.

Biden signed the legislation behind closed doors on the eve of his trip Tuesday to Northern Ireland and the White House acknowledged the milestone without fanfare in a brief late-afternoon email that read: “On Monday, April 10, 2023, the President signed into law: H.J.Res. 7, which terminates the national emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The legislation drafted by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) passed the House 229-197 in February, with a handful of Democratic supporters, and then the Senate 68-23 last month with about half of the chamber’s Democrats voting in favor.

In January, the White House said that Biden would end both the national emergency and a separate public health emergency on May 11 after more than 1 million Americans died from the respiratory disease that originated in Wuhan, China.

The Justice Department has said that ending the emergency would terminate the Title 42 migration policy that allows for the rapid deportation of people who illegally cross the US-Mexico border.

The Biden administration has eased enforcement of Title 42 by gradually allowing more people into the US to await asylum rulings, but thousands of migrants have still been deported each month under the policy, which would have to be replaced with a new plan to address record-high illegal crossings.

Biden also invoked the national emergency last year when announcing plans just before the midterm elections to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student debt per borrower. Critics say that Biden exceeded his legal authority and the Supreme Court is reviewing that plan.