Because power, once seized, is never voluntarily relinquished

Biden’s handlers extend “COVID health emergency” once again, this time to January 1st, when it will doubtless be extended again.

COVID may be no more — Biden has admitted it — but another extension (they endure just 90 days) of his declaration of emergency grants him the power to continue all sorts of bread and circus programs that the Democrats rely on to keep their voters government dependent and loyal.

Here’s how Hill commentator Nick Stehle described the situation last summer, after the August extension:

The federal COVID-19 public health emergency will boost voter turnout for Democrats. That’s the unspoken reality of the Biden administration’s mid-August decision to extend the emergency past the midterm elections. It was a strange move, considering the administration recently loosened key pandemic restrictions, from social distancing to quarantines to testing recommendations for schools and offices. Yet while the pandemic is fading, the emergency keeps a temporary welfare expansion flowing, which is a guaranteed vote-getter and potentially even an election-winner.

This conclusion is supported by a poll sponsored by the Opportunity Solutions Project. Conducted by the Center for Excellence in Polling, we asked 2,500 working-class Americans about their voting habits and welfare. Low-income voters who have never been on welfare gave the Republican Party a slight edge on voter affiliation. But when looking at voting decisions, there’s a 30-point swing toward the Democratic candidate for those who receive some form of welfare.

In other words, more welfare means more votes for President Biden’s party, which is vying to keep control of the closely divided House and Senate in the midterms.

These findings put in perspective the dramatic welfare expansion of the past few years. Medicaid rolls have grown by 24 million people during the pandemic, driven by a federal policy that blocks states from disenrolling ineligible individuals. Similarly, Washington has suspended the most common work requirements for food stamps, contributing to a net increase of more than 4 million recipients. (The Biden administration also unilaterally increased the value of food stamps by 25 percent.) The first two policies will expire with the public health emergency, at which point millions of individuals will begin to leave welfare. That won’t start before the election, though, giving Democrats a boost at the ballot box.

How big a boost are we talking about? Potentially in the millions of voters. Based on our findings, for every 100,000 working-class voters who are added to welfare, 30,000 switch their vote from Republican to Democrat. Conversely, for every 100,000 voters who go from welfare to work, 25,000 swing back to Republicans. That means the Democratic Party gets a permanent boost in voter affiliation after expanding welfare, even if that expansion is later repealed. Even so, the obvious incentive is to prevent an expiration, especially before a crucial election.

There’s a very real threat that the White House will keep extending the emergency, despite the fading pandemic and the public’s obvious desire to move on. Just as welfare recipients tend to get hooked on taxpayer handouts, Democrats may get hooked on the electoral benefits.  

And his warning then is being borne out now. Look for continued 90-day extensions until we’re past the 2024 election; this “emergency” won’t end until Democrat control of the Executive Branch is ended.