How Michigan reps in Congress voted on ending COVID-19 emergency

On Tuesday, Michigan’s congressional delegation voted 7-6 down party lines and in favor of the Democrats, on House Resolution 382 of 2023, The Pandemic Is Over Act.

The bill passed in the U.S. House by a 220-210 margin, with four representatives not voting. It would need to pass in the Senate and be signed by the president to become law. The timing of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic broke down along partisan lines.

The one-page bill reads:

The public health emergency declared by the Secretary pursuant to section 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 2020, entitled “Determination that a Public Health Emergency Exists Nationwide as the Result of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus” (and any renewal thereof) shall terminate on the date of the enactment of this Act.

The day before the vote, President Joe Biden announced that the COVID-19 emergency would terminate on May 11, more than three years after it began. The Pandemic Is Over Act would terminate the public health emergency declared on Jan. 31, 2020 by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Its vote was taken three years later to the date.

In November, 62 senators voted to terminate the COVID-19 emergency. That vote and Tuesday’s House vote took place in different Congresses. A new Senate vote would be needed this time.

In November, Biden warned that he would veto any congressional attempt to end the emergency declaration.

• November: Like Whitmer, Biden clings to emergency powers
• Biden: After three-plus years, COVID emergency to end in May

But two months later, and one day before a new congressional vote, Biden announced the coming end of the COVID emergency.

Voting yes, in favor of ending the three-year-old federal COVID-19 emergency, were the following Michigan representatives:

• Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet
• Bill Huizenga, R-Holland
• John James, R-Farmington Hills
• Lisa McClain, R-Bruce Township
• John Moolenaar, R-Caledonia
• Tim Walberg, R-Tipton

Voting no, in support of continuing the COVID-19 emergency, were the following Michigan representatives:

• Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor
• Dan Kildee, D-Flint
• Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids
• Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing
• Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham
• Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit
• Rashida Tlaib, D-Dearborn

The roll call vote of Michigan’s congressional delegation, via the Clerk of the U.S. House:

Wednesday a second bill to terminate the COVID emergency — “Relating to a national emergency declared by the President on March 13, 2020”— passed by a wider margin than the Pandemic is Over Act, and with bipartisan support. This bill would terminate the public health emergency declared by President Donald Trump in March 2020.

The bill, in its entirety, reads:

Though the Michigan delegation had the same party-line 7-6 split as it did for the other bill, 11 Democrats joined 218 Republicans to support the bill.

Seven representatives did not vote. The bill passed the House 229-197.