Biden is facing crisis after crisis. But are they emergencies? | World News,The Indian Express

In a time of political and economic turmoil, just what, exactly, counts as a national emergency?

Written by Michael D Shear

In a time of political and economic turmoil, just what, exactly, counts as a national emergency?

President Joe Biden has declared one for Covid, for solar panels and for Russian oil, but not yet for monkeypox. He has hesitated to call the climate crisis an emergency, and has concluded that doing so for reproductive rights would be mostly meaningless. He agreed with his predecessor that opioid addiction was worthy of the designation, but ended the former president’s emergency to fund a border wall.

The power to declare emergencies is one of the few presidential powers that can be exercised without much oversight from Congress or the courts, allowing the nation’s leader to respond quickly in a crisis by invoking special authorities or unlocking federal funds.

But Biden is facing an increasing number of demands — often from his own allies — for declarations on a broad range of issues, including topics like climate and abortion that are roiling American culture. In the view of the Washington advocacy community, the United States should be in a perpetual state of emergency.

https://indianexpress.com/article/world/biden-emergency-declarations-8056661/

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