President Joseph Biden’s recent statement that the COVID-19 pandemic is over may or may not reflect popular fatigue with the associated public health emergency (PHE), but the statement struck a different tone in some quarters on Capitol Hill. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) was one of several who argued that the need for the PHE had thus necessarily run its course, with Burr specifically calling into question the need for additional funding for COVID-related federal health efforts.