I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1556 
To require State and local governments to establish reopening plans as a 
condition of receiving funding under title VI of the Social Security 
Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 3, 2021 
Mr. CRENSHAW introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To require State and local governments to establish reopen-
ing plans as a condition of receiving funding under title 
VI of the Social Security Act, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘End Lockdowns Now 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) During the course of the COVID-19 pan-
demic, many State and localities have acted in a ca-
pricious and haphazard manner to restrict economic 
activity and stifle civil liberties. 
(2) The specific restrictions are commonly re-
ferred to as ‘‘lockdown,’’ ‘‘stay-at-home,’’ or ‘‘shel-
ter-in-place’’ orders. These restrictions have forced 
‘‘non-essential’’ businesses to close their doors and 
prohibited their workers from earning a living. 
(3) Many of these State and local authorities 
have not followed a careful risk-based model in-
formed by science to guide decision making and 
these officials have claimed the authority to act in 
a manner unlimited in scope and indefinite in dura-
tion. 
(4) The effect of these lockdowns has been the 
collapse of millions of business and resulted in the 
highest jobless rate in decades. 
(5) While the direct health effects of the pan-
demic have been devastating to many Americans, 
these authorities have often ignored the secondary 
effects of the crisis, including the death, illness, and 
suffering caused by the despair and hardship result-
ing from their lockdowns. 
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(6) One of the most troublesome examples of 
severe overreach by State officials occurred when 
New York imposed restrictions on congregation size 
limits, discriminating on the basis of religion in vio-
lation of the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme 
Court determined the State of New York’s rules es-
sentially singled out houses of worship for unfair 
and unconstitutional restrictions (Roman Catholic 
Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo). 
(7) State governors do have the authority to 
implement targeted restrictions in the case of a pub-
lic health emergency, yet many of the unrestrained 
orders issued during the pandemic have effectively 
violated many civil liberties and personal freedoms. 
(8) In addition, many of the public orders are 
so economically burdensome that they essentially 
function as a taking of property, which requires suf-
ficient compensation under the takings clause of the 
Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. 
(9) Congress urges State and local leaders to 
carefully consider the broad consequences of their 
restrictions and to expeditiously take steps to allow 
businesses, schools, and other elements of society to 
reopen. 
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(10) Congress hereby acts to condition relief 
funds based on the submission of a plan by State 
and localities detailing any current restrictions and 
their plans to lift these restrictions. 
(11) Congress further acts to prevent any un-
necessary overreach by the Executive Branch by 
firmly outlawing restrictions that have the effect of 
halting interstate travel or imposing a nationwide 
quarantine or lockdown. 
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT FOR REOPENING PLAN. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of receiving any 
payment under title VI of the Social Security Act on or 
after March 1, 2021, each recipient shall provide a reopen-
ing plan to the Secretary of the Treasury. 
(b) REOPENING PLAN DEFINED.—The reopening 
plan required under subsection (a) shall include a detailed 
description of how the recipient plans— 
(1) to reopen schools for in-person learning; 
(2) remove restrictions on business activity; 
(3) lift restrictions on religious services and 
other social gatherings; and 
(4) assist families and small businesses in eco-
nomic recovery. 
Such plan shall also include a description on how the re-
opening plan was developed and the steps that were taken 
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to include input from local small businesses and the pub-
lic. 
(c) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—Such plan shall be made 
publicly available and shall include details of the restric-
tions or lockdown orders currently in place and a specific 
plan and timeline to lift those restrictions. 
SEC. 4. RECOVERY OF FUNDS. 
If the Inspector General of the Department of the 
Treasury determines that a recipient of a payment de-
scribed in section 3(a) has failed to comply with any provi-
sion of section 3, the amount equal to the amount of funds 
used in violation of such section shall be booked as a debt 
of such entity owed to the Federal Government. Amounts 
recovered under this subsection shall be deposited into the 
general fund of the Treasury. 
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL LOCKDOWNS. 
(a) LIMITATION
ON FEDERAL AUTHORITY.—The 
President, nor any executive branch official, shall not take 
any action to issue a blanket ban on interstate travel or 
impose a national lockdown order or nationwide quar-
antine pursuant to the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 201 et seq.). 
(b) NO LIMITATION ON MASS TRANSIT SAFETY.— 
Nothing in the prohibition specified in subsection (a) shall 
be construed as limiting existing presidential authority to 
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impose restrictions on air travel or other forms of public 
transportation when necessary to promote public safety. 
(c) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.—Nothing in this 
section shall be construed to restrict the declaration of a 
public health emergency under section 319 of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) or the taking of 
other specific steps to preserve public health under section 
361 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264). 
Æ 
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