Monday, January 16, 2023

Republicans Demand End to COVID-19 Emergency Declaration; House GOP to Focus COVID Panel on Virus Origins, Pandemic Spending; House Oversight Panel Will Probe Fraud in Covid Unemployment Aid, and other C-Virus related stories

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
Republicans demand end to COVID-19 emergency declaration:
Biden admin renews emergency declaration 4 months after president declared 'pandemic is over'
House Republicans are calling on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra to end the COVID-19 public health emergency after the department extended it for the 12th time Wednesday.
The group of Republicans, led by Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, sent a letter to Becerra on Wednesday afternoon, demanding the public health emergency (PHE) declaration be withdrawn or else submit in writing justification for its continuation by Feb. 10.
"The continued extensions of the public health emergency calls into question the legality of the expanding powers of the executive branch, its abuse of statutory authority, and sets a terrible precedent for future public health emergencies," the letter states.
"The continued lack of clarity and mixed guidance from the administration also fails to reassure Americans that they can participate safely in everyday society," it continues. "Meanwhile, restaurants, bars, sporting, arenas, and venues alike have been open and operating at full capacity, yet the administration continues to unsoundly reissue PHE extensions." --->READ MORE HERE
House GOP to focus COVID panel on virus origins, pandemic spending:
Republicans have significantly retooled the focus of the House panel investigating the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, a move that aligns with the new majority’s oversight focus.
As part of the rules package that passed the House 220-213 on Monday night, the 12-member Select Committee on the Coronavirus Response will be charged with examining the origins of the pandemic, including federal funding of gain-of-function research.
The origins of the coronavirus have become intensely politicized, and Biden officials and outside scientists are bracing for a new wave of investigations.
The examination of gain-of-function research is central to the common GOP position that the virus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China, and was potentially backed by funding from the U.S. government. Last year, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee released a report concluding the pandemic began with a virus that escaped from the Wuhan lab.
When they were in the minority, Republicans were not shy about launching probes into the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, focusing on the origins of the virus and whether the federal government — and by extension, Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — helped fund controversial research that might have played a role in its creation. --->READ MORE HERE
Follow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:

Federal COVID aid OK’d to pay for roads, natural disasters

+++++House oversight panel will probe fraud in covid unemployment aid+++++

USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates

WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates

YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates

NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest

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