Taxpayers Protection Alliance Encourages House to Support COVID-19 Rollbacks

For Immediate Release                                                 Contact: Abigail Graham: (202) 417-7235

January 30, 2023                                                                                  

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) urges the U.S. House of Representatives to support H.R. 382, the Pandemic is Over Act, H.R. 139, the SHOW UP Act of 2023, and H.J. Res. 7. COVID is the largest pandemic in generations, and as a result, the response from the federal government was multi-faceted and injected trillions of taxpayer dollars into the economy. Thankfully, while challenges lie ahead, the initial storm has passed, and Congress is now rightly considering measures this week to roll back executive authority related to the pandemic.

In response, TPA Executive Director Patrick Hedger, offered the following statement:

“Under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may declare a national public health emergency and access funds from the Public Health Emergency Fund. Since the emergency was declared on January 31, 2020, the Public Health Emergency Fund has accessed more than $354 billion in outlays. The Pandemic is Over Act would terminate this 2020 emergency declaration and rescind HHS’ ability to access those funds in accordance with the Public Health Service Act. Similarly, H.J. Res 7 would terminate the March 13, 2020 national emergency declaration.

“In addition, the SHOW UP Act of 2023 would require executive agencies to reinstate their pre-pandemic telework policies. In February 2022, the Government Accountability Office found that at some federal agencies, telework accounted for more than 80 percent of total work time during the pandemic. Especially early in the pandemic, the challenges of transitioning to telework significantly hampered taxpayers’ ability to access services from the federal government. This bill would also require agencies to report to Congress the effects of their telework policies on agency productivity during the pandemic. This significant oversight effort by the House would increase necessary transparency that American taxpayers rightfully deserve.

“TPA encourages members to support these fiscally responsible and oversight-oriented initiatives as they come to the House floor this week.”

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Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the government’s effects on the economy.