WASHINGTON, DC – House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed H.R. 382, the Pandemic Is Over Act:
“It took House Republicans breaking up one-party Democrat rule in Washington to force President Biden to take the common-sense step to end an emergency declaration that gave the government unprecedented power over Americans’ everyday lives. Even after President Biden admitted ‘the pandemic is over’ months ago, he has continued to use his permanent pandemic narrative to justify trillions in spending that sparked the worst inflation crisis in a generation. Only 9 percent of the Democrats’ $2 trillion American Rescue Plan went to combat COVID while $400 billion went toward policies that have kept millions of Americans out of work and on the sidelines of America’s economy. The Biden Administration has used COVID as an excuse for its $500 billion welfare for the wealthy student loan giveaway. All of this spending and failed economic policies have come at the expense of working families.
“House Republicans will hold the Biden Administration accountable for the trillions of taxpayer dollars Democrats spent in the name of COVID, knowing they had nothing to do with COVID, and instead pushed America into an inflation crisis and further toward a debt crisis. The American people are long past ready to close the book on President Biden’s permanent pandemic narrative.”