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Biden signs bill to end COVID-19 national emergency

President Biden on Monday signed a Republican-authored bill to end the national emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic, with the White House saying the president would unilaterally end national emergency declarations related to the pandemic.

The White House opposed the GOP-proposed measure, which gained some bipartisan support in Congress, although the White House planned to end the emergency declaration on May 11. The White House said the legislation would “create widespread chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system — for states, for hospitals and doctors’ offices and, most importantly, for millions of Americans.”

The new law immediately ends national emergencies and public health emergencies that were first enacted during the Trump administration and continued through the Biden administration. Former President Donald Trump first declared a national emergency for the virus on March 13, 2020, backdated to March 1 of that year. The proclamations allow cities and states to free up federal funding for things like testing and vaccination centers.

The law will also end suddenly Title 42, pandemic-era rules that barred undocumented immigrants from crossing the southern border, citing public health reasons. But the White House has said the policy is subject to a US Supreme Court case and it wants to end the program.

— Ed O’Keefe contributed to this report

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