House Republicans overwhelmingly voted to pass a bill Tuesday evening to end the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration, despite warnings from the Biden administration that the measure would also terminate pandemic-related border restrictions that congressional Republicans support.
The bill would wipe out a declaration that Republicans say has led to overreach from the White House and stunted economic recovery from the pandemic. But tough-on-immigration Republicans want to keep the border restrictions known as Title 42 that were put in place in a stated effort to stem COVID-19 spread.
The government has used that Title 42 policy to turn away asylum seekers since the Trump administration put it in place nearly three years ago. On Monday, the Biden administration said the House bill, if enacted, would “immediately” end the Title 42 policy and “result in a substantial additional inflow of migrants at the Southwest border.”
