Veto override of governor’s COVID-19 emergency order fails in House

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House Republicans failed Wednesday in voting to overturn Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto of House Resolution 836, which would terminate the state’s COVID-19 disaster emergency declaration.

The disaster declaration, which was first issued on March 6, was renewed a second time by Wolf on Sept. 1 for 90 days. House Resolution 836 was previously adopted on June 9 and was then vetoed by the governor on July 14.

House Republicans have long fought the governor’s extended emergency declaration, calling it “unchecked emergency powers” that have caused more harm than good for Pennsylvania’s businesses and families.

“Unsupported by data, Gov. Wolf’s confusing, unfair and ever-changing orders have hurt family-run businesses, many of which after operating for generations will never be able to open their doors again,” PA House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre/Mifflin) said prior to the House vote. “To get all Pennsylvanians back to work, we must bring the governor’s unbridled, never-ending emergency declaration to a conclusion.”

According to a tweet posted by the PA House Republicans, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is 14 percent, reflecting 840,000 people out of work due to Wolf’s emergency mandates.

Additionally, House Health Committee Chairman Kathy Rapp (R-Warren/Crawford/Forest) said that as Pennsylvania has met the stated goals of the original order, the need for the emergency declaration no longer exists.

For Wednesday’s override of the House Resolution 836 to have passed, the House would have needed a two-thirds majority, or 135 votes. The motion failed by a vote of 118-84. Every Republican House member voted ‘yes’ to override the veto.

“The governor continues to issue haphazard, chaotic, confusing orders relative to the pandemic,” said Rep. Martin Causer (R-Cameron/McKean/Potter), chairman of the PA House GOP Policy Committee. “Everyone realizes we are in the middle of a pandemic and we take safety very seriously, but there’s a major problem in this commonwealth with these orders that Gov. Wolf continues to come out with.”

Causer noted a recent House Majority Policy Committee hearing with representatives from the state’s restaurant industry, which highlighted the struggles they are facing because of Wolf’s orders.

“This was an opportunity for members of the House to end the governor’s disaster declaration and bring commonsense back to the Commonwealth,” Causer continued. “[While] that effort failed…we are certainly not done and we’re going to continue pushing forward.”

Rep. Valerie Gaydos (R-Allegheny) said the protection of residents within the Commonwealth should be based on “data and science, not on whim.”

“By not overriding the governor’s earlier veto of House Resolution 836, it’s a safe bet that unemployment compensation claims will rise to 4 million or more, more businesses will be forced to close their doors forever, and suicide, as well as child abuse rates, will continue to rise,” Gaydos said.

Rep. Carl Walker Metzgar (R-Somerset/Bedford) similarly expressed his disappointment with the failure to override Wolf’s veto of Resolution 836, saying that workers, small business owners, and families are being devastated by the continued closure orders and that the support systems put in place by the administration have failed them.