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Buried on Page 86 of Stopgap Spending Bill: Congress Extends Pandemic Emergency Powers, Biodefense Secrecy, and Pharma Privileges Through September 2025

Congress looks to extend emergency powers and secrecy over high-containment laboratories in stopgap funding bill.

The U.S. House of Representatives is voting on this bill today.

These laws give the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other top federal officials sweeping, unilateral powers over the American people in the event of a declared—or even a potential—public health emergency. Under these authorities, the federal government can declare emergencies, deploy federalized medical teams, lock down communities, roll out mass vaccination campaigns, and fast-track the use of unlicensed drugs and vaccines. Even state personnel can be reassigned to serve federal priorities.

Congress didn’t just extend emergency powers. Lawmakers also renewed legal authority for total secrecy over government-funded pandemic research, countermeasure development, and the activities of high-containment biolabs working with dangerous pathogens. Americans will remain locked out of knowing where these labs are, what viruses they’re working on, and how vulnerable the nation’s defenses really are.

And if that wasn’t enough, Congress re-upped special antitrust exemptions that allow Big Pharma and government agencies to coordinate in secret on the manufacture, distribution, and stockpiling of pandemic countermeasures—without any public oversight and without the usual competition laws that prevent monopolies.

These laws weren’t passed during a national emergency. They weren’t rushed through during a new pandemic. Congress extended them as part of a temporary funding measure—a 99-page continuing resolution designed to keep the government’s lights on. And buried in the fine print were provisions that give unelected bureaucrats sweeping powers over your life, your health, and your freedom.

They buried all of this in dense legalese—referencing the Public Health Service Act (here)—on page 86 of the continuing resolution stopgap bill.

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-8773/pdf/COMPS-8773.pdf