Biden claimed the pandemic was over while maintaining the public-health emergency. Meanwhile, the White House walked back his statement. What does this all mean?

From The Wall Street Journal. President Biden finally dared to say it on Sunday, declaring in an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that the “pandemic is over.” Various public-health eminences are saying he’s wrong, but his comments recognize the reality of the disease at this stage and the public mood. The trouble is that his Administration still hasn’t lifted its official finding of a Covid public-health emergency. …

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The reason is almost certainly money. A March 2020 Covid law enables the government to hand out billions of dollars in welfare benefits to millions of people as long as the emergency is in effect. This includes more generous food stamps and a restriction on state work requirements. It also limits states from removing from their Medicaid rolls individuals who are otherwise no long financially eligible. The Foundation for Government Accountability estimates these ineligibles cost nearly $16 billion a month.

Most outrageous, only weeks ago the Administration used a separate national emergency declaration related to the pandemic to legally justify canceling some $500 billion in student debt. An Education Department Office of the General Counsel memo says the pandemic and national emergency enable the Education Secretary to modify federal student aid requirements under the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act.

Mr. Biden seems to want it both ways. He wants to reassure Americans tired of restrictions on their way of life that the pandemic is over and they can get on with their lives. But he wants to retain the official emergency so he can continue to expand the welfare state and force states to comply. Covid can’t be an emergency only when it’s politically useful.

From Fox News. Twitter users expressed confusion and outright mockery after the White House walked back President Biden’s assertion that the COVID-19 pandemic is “over.” …

When asked about the state of the U.S.’s fight against the pandemic, Biden told CBS correspondent Scott Pelley, “The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. It’s — but the pandemic is over.”

But according to CNN, an administration official told the outlet that “the President’s comments do not mark a change in policy toward the administration’s handling of the virus, and there are no plans to lift the Public Health Emergency.” …

However, the fact that the White House had to clarify and essentially walk back the president’s claims about the state of the pandemic drew scathing criticism from Biden administration critics, who insisted that this tension between Biden and his staffers may be another hint they do his job for him.

“He is not in charge,” tweeted The Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller. …

In subsequent tweets, Miller added, “It wasn’t a gaffe. It wasn’t a slip. He said it pretty definitely twice. In the same interview he dared anyone who questioned his mental fitness. Here’s the example. Right here.”

“Biden reportedly complains that he looks weak. This is why. His own administration undercuts him every time he opens his mouth,” he wrote, and then asked, “Is he in charge or not?” …

What do you think of Biden’s assertion? Share your thoughts and prayers below.

(Excerpts from The Wall Street Journal and Fox News. Photo Credit: Getty Images)