Biden's potential first veto
By: Andrew Solender,Victoria Knight (Axios)
Biden is not going to give up authoritarian power. The technocrats won't allow it. The WHO has set an impossibly high benchmark for declaring an end to the pandemic. And Biden will use that technocratic power grab for his own benefit. We've already seen how Biden uses the pandemic to justify just about anything.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
House Republicans may soon force President Biden to issue his first veto — over a measure to terminate the national emergency declaration for COVID.
Why it matters: The emergency declaration has served as the basis for the administration's student loan forgiveness plan and also allows for increased flexibilities for health insurance and Medicaid.
What we're hearing: Once they officially retake the House majority, Republicans plan to hold a vote on a joint resolution that would rescind the emergency declaration, senior GOP aides said.
- The resolution first passed the Senate in March, along party lines. When it came up again last month, it passed 61-37, with support from 12 Democrats.
By the numbers: This type of resolution doesn't need 60 votes in the Senate. Just two Senate Democrats would have to stick by their votes for it to pass now.
- "[The pandemic] is over. I'm going to keep voting until we get it over," Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told Axios. "We should get back to normal lives."
The other side: Biden said months ago that the pandemic is over — but the White House said last month Biden would veto the resolution if it came to his desk.
- "While COVID-19 is no longer the disruptive threat that it once was and we have made tremendous progress in combating the virus, the virus continues to pose a risk to the American people and our health care system," the statement argued.
- Reached for comment this week, the White House referred back to the OMB statement.
- Congress would almost surely not be able to override Biden's veto.
What we're watching: The resolution is part of a broader tug-of-war between Congress and the executive branch over how sweeping a president's emergency executive powers should be.
- Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has tried to rein in executive power in other ways in addition to voting for this resolution, told Axios: "I worry when declarations persist longer than is absolutely necessary. It becomes harder to gain public legitimacy for declarations in the future."
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Biden follows the science as long as it suits his political goals. And Biden's primary political goal is to protect the authoritarian power of the executive technocracy.
The pandemic is becoming the COVID coup.