End Lockdowns Now Act
Bill: H.R.1556 | Sponsor: Rep. Crenshaw, Dan (R-TX)
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
End Lockdowns Now Act
This bill prohibits federal lockdowns and requires recipients of COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) recovery aid to provide a reopening plan to the Department of the Treasury.
Specifically, the reopening plan must include a detailed description of how the recipient plans to reopen schools for in-person learning, remove restrictions on business activity, lift restrictions on religious services and other social gatherings, and assist families and small businesses in economic recovery. The plan shall include a description of how the reopening plan was developed and the steps that were taken to include input from local small businesses and the public.
The bill provides for the recovery of funds by the federal government if the Treasury Office of Inspector General determines that a recipient has failed to comply with this bill's requirements.
Neither the President nor any executive branch official shall take any action to issue a blanket ban on interstate travel or impose a national lockdown order or nationwide quarantine.

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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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:
            (1) During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, many State 
        and localities have acted in a capricious and haphazard manner 
        to restrict economic activity and stifle civil liberties.
            (2) The specific restrictions are commonly referred to as 
        ``lockdown,'' ``stay-at-home,'' or ``shelter-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 informed by science to 
        guide decision making and these officials have claimed the 
        authority to act in a manner unlimited in scope and indefinite 
        in duration.
            (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 pandemic 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 resulting from their lockdowns.
            (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 violation of the First Amendment. The U.S. 
        Supreme Court determined the State of New York's rules 
        essentially 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 public 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 sufficient 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.
            (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 unnecessary 
        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 reopening 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 economic 
        recovery.
Such plan shall also include a description on how the reopening plan 
was developed and the steps that were taken to include input from local 
small businesses and the public.
    (c) Public Disclosure.--Such plan shall be made publicly available 
and shall include details of the restrictions 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 described in section 3(a) has 
failed to comply with any provision 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 quarantine 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 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).
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