The United States Senate votes to end the covid-19 emergency, three years after its initial declaration

The United States Senate votes to end the covid-19 emergency, three years after its initial declaration

The Senate approved this Wednesday a bill that will end the national emergency by covid-19 declared by then-President Donald Trump on March 13, 2020.

The final vote was overwhelmingly bipartisan, 68-23. The joint resolution, which had passed the House of Representatives earlier this year, is now on its way to President Joe Biden’s desk.

The vote comes on the heels of two other successful Republican-led moves to pass legislation rescinding the Biden administration’s policies.

A White House official said in a statement to CNN that although the president “strongly opposes” this bill, the government planned to end the emergency by May 11, a date that had already been announced previously.

Still, the official said, if the measure passes the Senate and it reaches Biden’s desk, “he will sign it, and the administration will continue to work with the agencies to end the national emergency with as much notice as possible to the Americans who they could potentially be impacted.”

The White House said in January that Biden “strongly opposed” the Republican Party’s resolution to end the Covid-19 emergency, according to the government’s policy statement, but did not threaten to veto it.