HJR 7 - Relating to a national emergency declared by the President on March 13, 2020. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, pursuant to section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622), the national emergency declared by the finding of the President on March 13, 2020, in Proclamation 9994 (85 Fed. Reg. 15337) is hereby terminated. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/legislation/2023/04/10/bill-signed-h-j-res-7/
What does this mean?
There are other laws passed by Congress that leaves in place certain actions.
Biden rescinding Trump-Biden Proclamation 9994 under the 1976 National Emergencies Act does not terminate Azar Becerra’s Public Health Emergency authorities under the 1983 PHE amendment to the 1944 PHSA.
Under the terms of. 1944PHSA, U.S. Congressional law still permits emergency quarantines for ensuing epidemics, or results of biological warfare or terrorism.
President Joe Biden on April 10 signed a measure that immediately ended the COVID-19 national emergency more than three years after it was enacted, the White House announced.
HJ Res 7 passed through the Senate on March 29 by a 68-23 margin, with 21 Democrats joining 47 Republicans to support the measure.
Four Republicans and five Democrats did not cast a vote—and 23 Democrats voted against the short resolution—which was introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) last month and passed by the House 229-197 on Feb. 1.
Concerned citizens should be aware that the terms of declaring a national emergency due to infectious disease outbreaks remain vague, leaving it open to interpretation by politicians, and local, tribal, and state government officials.
According to law the CDC (Communicable Disease Center)
There are certain rules regarding the roles of Federal, State, and local government which introduce possible competing and adversarial roles for quarantine and enforcement.
If a quarantinable disease is suspected or identified, CDC may issue a federal isolation or quarantine order.
Public health authorities at the federal, state, local, and tribal levels may sometimes seek help from police or other law enforcement officers to enforce a public health order.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Coast Guard officers are authorized to help enforce federal quarantine orders.
Breaking a federal quarantine order is punishable by fines and imprisonment.
Federal law allows the conditional release of persons from quarantine if they comply with medical monitoring and surveillance.
In the rare event that a federal order is issued by CDC, those individuals will be provided with an order for quarantine or isolation. An example of a Quarantine Order for Novel Coronavirus (print-only) [PDF – 5 pages] is provided. This document outlines the rationale of the federal order as well as information on where the individual will be located, quarantine requirements including the length of the order, CDC’s legal authority, and information outlining what the individual can expect while under federal order.
The United States was ill-prepared for COVID-19. Conflicting advice from individuals, governors, and others led to confusion and a lack of trust on the part of the American people.
In addition to the above the First Amendment allowed mis- information to be propagated by social media. This has and will continue in the future without strict guidelines to monitor misinformation via the internet. This will require massive monitoring of internet traffic, using Artificial Intelligence. The First Amendment could be used to strike down internet monitoring. Who will set the standards for what is correct or not? Will there be penalties for internet abuse?
There are many issues to be decided before the next epidemic.
No comments:
Post a Comment