President Joe Biden will announce on Tuesday a new eviction moratorium to replace the one that expired, targeting counties with elevated rates of coronavirus infections to save renters.
White House aides and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials were working out details. The proposal could include a new freeze that would remain in place for up to 60 days and would cover about 90 percent of renters in the country, The New York Times reported.
The feud among Democrats over what to do about the eviction moratorium escalated on Tuesday when Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to bring back Congress to vote on the matter.
Pelosi ruled out that option despite President Biden calling on Congress to extend the moratorium and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling her fellow lawmakers 'cowards' for refusing to vote on the issue.
President Joe Biden will announce on Tuesday a new eviction moratorium to replace the one that expired
On a call with House Democrats Tuesday, where Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin spoke with lawmakers, Pelosi made her stance clear.
She said the House should not come back from its recess and that lawmakers should focus on urging the Biden administration to extend the moratorium unilaterally, The Washington Post reported.
Ocasio-Cortez told Politico her fellow Democratic House members are 'cowards' who needed to come back into town and 'put their names next to a 'yes' or 'no' vote, or the White House needs to do a damn thing about [eviction moratoriums]. … At the end of the day, the emergency is here. And so we need to exercise all avenues.'
President Biden on Monday pleaded with landlords to hold off evictions for the next 30 days as his administration sought ways to extend a moratorium after Congress failed to do so and the White House conceded they have no legal grounds to act.
'You can be sure of one thing, whatever is in the power of this president to do to prevent evictions he is committed to doing,' American Rescue Plan Coordinator Gene Sperling said Monday at the daily press briefing. 'This is a president who really understands the heartbreak of eviction.'
In a lengthy statement on the crisis, which will see thousands lose their homes as rent becomes due at the first of the month, White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted the president asked his administration to come up with executive action to extend the moratorium.
But, she conceded, they were unable to do so.
'CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and her team have been unable to find legal authority for a new, targeted eviction moratorium. Our team is redoubling efforts to identify all available legal authorities to provide necessary protections,' she said.
President Joe Biden pleaded with landlords to hold off evictions for the next 30 days as his administration sought ways to extend a moratorium
The federal eviction moratorium was put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in November. A June ruling by the Supreme Court led administration officials to concede the agency could not do so again.
In Monday's statement, Biden called on states and localities to extend or put in place evictions moratoria for at the least the next two months and for landlords to give a 30-day break. He directed federal agencies to extend all the moratorium they were allowed to do.
The administration also called on states to speed up issuing housing funds allocated through the American Rescue Plan.
Distribution of rental assistance that Congress allocated in December and March has been painfully slow. The $47 billion Emergency Rental Assistance program has, to date, disbursed only $3 billion.
The White House defended its actions.
President Biden 'has double, triple, quadruple check. He has
