Eviction moratorium: How Democrats blew their chance to extend it.
Last Thursday, as the House of Representatives was wrapping up lingering business before leaving town for the summer, the White House threw a grenade into Democratic leaders’ laps. You know that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratorium that was set to lapse at the end of July—as in, a few days later? The White House would need Congress to pass legislation extending that, immediately.
The July 31 deadline has come and gone, with neither Democrats in Congress nor the White House having extended it. This could leave millions without housing as landlords resume what they lovingly call “property operations.” And while congressional Democrats and the administration are still in conversations about what they can do, the main battle plan for each participant appears to be ensuring that the blame for the ensuing mess sticks to someone else.
This is unusual territory for House Democratic leaders, who have operated as a pretty well-oiled machine for most of the year. The team of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Majority Whip James Clyburn has passed just about everything asked of it, despite the narrowest of majorities. Pelosi has not had to turn to Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for votes on anything.
But the White House request last Thursday was too much. Leaders began whipping that night and could not find the votes, with too many moderates dead set against another extension. Pelosi issued a letter to the Democratic caucus Thursday night pleading with them to come around, to no avail.
AdvertisementThe efforts to find the votes continued through Friday. But in the end, Hoyer tried to pass an extension through unanimous consent, Republicans blocked it, and members started for the airport. When Democratic leaders came to brief the press and pin blame on Republicans, though, they were met with a scene that was not indicative of a party in array. Pelosi and Hoyer waited just feet from California Rep. Maxine Waters, chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee, until she finished explaining why she thought they “should’ve fought harder.”
Advertisement Advertisement AdvertisementAdvertisementAmazing scene here as Pelosi and Hoyer wait to speak as Rep. Waters says this wasn’t the right way to handle it pic.twitter.com/QnUrxncX6X
— Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) July 30, 2021
Now, Democratic congressional leaders would never outright say that their dear friends in the Biden administration had thrown them under the bus at the last minute. But it’s not an accident that the first sentence of her letter to colleagues last Thursday pleading with them to pass an extension began, “In the last 24 hours, a challenge to the conscience of the Congress has descended upon us.” And in her remarks to reporters following the failed unanimous consent effort on Friday, Pelosi noted that “we only learned of this yesterday” and “there was not enough time to socialize it within our caucus as well as to build a consensus necessary.” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez noted on CNN this weekend, too, that the White House had dithered on making its position known until the last minute.
Advertisement Advertisement“I sit on the Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over housing,” Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday. “We had the housing secretary there, asking about the administration stance. We asked the Biden administration about their stance. And they were not being really forthright about that advocacy and that request until the day before the House adjourned. And so the House was put into, I believe, a needlessly difficult situation.”
AdvertisementStill, progressives were, and are, furious at their colleagues. Missouri Rep. Cori Bush slept on the Capitol steps to protest Congress leaving for seven weeks without getting this done. And while AOC placed some blame with the White House, she also questioned the leaders’ strategy, saying in that CNN interview that it’s not good enough to just let Republicans block a unanimous consent request and claim the wave of evictions is their fault.
Advertisement“We have to really just call a spade a spade,” she said. “We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have a majority.” She, and others, are calling for the House to return to pass an extension.
If we’re calling spades spades, though, here’s what the House passing an extension either last week or sometime in the future would likely get renters who are on the precipice of eviction: nothing. It would take 60 votes to pass this in the Senate, which already has more than it can handle this week, and Senate Republicans are not interested. If House Democrats were able to pass an extension, it would allow them to shift blame to Senate Republican obstructionists. But that doesn’t pay the rent.
Advertisement Advertisement AdvertisementIn her most recent updates to colleagues, Pelosi has noted that “the House passing the eviction moratorium without the Senate acting does not extend the moratorium.” Instead, Pelosi and House leaders have tried to throw the question back at the administration, and have repeatedly called on them in the last couple of days to have the CDC extend the moratorium.
If the administration were confident it could, though, it would. The issue is that it very likely cannot. Real estate interests had challenged the CDC-issued eviction moratorium in court, and it only survived until July 31 by the skin of its teeth. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in a concurring opinion in late June, agreed with the challengers that the CDC had “exceeded its existing statutory authority by issuing a nationwide eviction moratorium,” but wouldn’t shoot it down because there were only a few weeks left. He added, though, “clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31.” The White House has been clear that it does not believe the CDC has the authority to extend it any further, and doesn’t want to try and risk additional legal backlash.
Advertisement AdvertisementAnd yet everyone’s still trying. The White House issued a new statement Monday saying that while the CDC so far “has been unable to find legal authority for a new, targeted eviction moratorium,” the White House would be “redoubling efforts to identify all available legal authorities to provide necessary protections.” In the meantime, it will be taking steps encouraging everyone to be nice, such as “challenging every landlord to hold off on evictions for the next 30 days.”
Popular in News & Politics
- A Great American Con Led to the Mess on College Campuses. Everyone Fell for It—Again.
- The Trump Defense Made Hope Hicks Cry. The Prosecution Got What It Wanted.
- There’s One Part of Brittney Griner’s Account of Life in Russian Prison That Really Stands Out
- Only One Thing Will End the Protests—and Relieve Joe Biden of This Gigantic Headache
The urgency with which these statements are being issued does at least suggest that Democrats in both the administration and Congress recognize they’re on the verge of a screw-up that won’t soon be forgotten. The eviction moratorium can’t last forever, but it sure could use a couple more months. Congress has authorized $46.5 billion in rental assistance in COVID relief packages, but only a tiny fraction of that has gone out the door as states and localities have struggled to get programs off the ground. An extension of the moratorium in some fashion, while the delta variant is surging, would allow the assistance to be disbursed, more renters to stay in their homes, and more landlords to get paid. Instead, there could be a rush of evictions of those who were promised help from the federal government but never got it because of implementation issues. This is the sort of thing that can breed resentment for a long time, and it was worth preparing for more than two days before the deadline.
Tweet Share Share Comment下一篇:Against All Odds: How Netflix Made It
- ·25 Years Later: A Brief Analysis of GPU Processing Efficiency
- ·学技术 妇女在家就能挣钱
- ·名山乡镇老年摩托车骑游大队成立队员八成是农民
- ·近5万亩荔枝树完成高接换种!茂名荔枝种业蝶变之路
- ·Where to pre
- ·又逢三塔菌飘香季 市民争相购珍品
- ·雨城区工商局看望慰问部队官兵
- ·雨城区工商局看望慰问部队官兵
- ·Best CPU Deals, AMD vs Intel: Holiday CPU Buying Guide
- ·“跃华茶业杯”首届有奖征文活动启事
- ·进度40.6%!湛江已完成春播面积193.12万亩
- ·刚刚,“清马”起跑啦!
- ·Students get free entry at second Rawalpindi Test but what’s the catch?
- ·地震遗殇 灾后心理“余震”不容忽视
- ·凝聚灾后恢复重建正能量 创新开展主题实践教育活动
- ·药品电子监管将延伸到我市300家零售药店
- ·Korea's economy to stop growing without drastic labor change: FKI
- ·发挥推动引领作用 带动全社会自觉投入创建工作
- ·“清马”最暖补给点:清远市民请跑者喝英德红茶,5000人畅饮
- ·遛狗者 请妥善处理狗粪
- ·25 Years Later: A Brief Analysis of GPU Processing Efficiency
- ·他种出每公斤200元的“仙果”
- ·8月8日 舒华邀请你来试跑
- ·社区与驻军联欢共庆“八一”
- ·18 Places for Epic Outdoor Adventure Across Colorado
- ·天全联社感恩教育进农信
- ·Freedom from Dissent
- ·地震当日 他带着武警官兵挺进灾区
- ·【附最新议程】大咖云集凤城,把脉出海风潮!一场会串联产、学、研、媒顶级资源
- ·维修加固 市区部分学校操场暂停对外开放
- ·When will Trump and Harris debate? The presidential campaigns snipe over ABC News’ rules.
- ·6亩塘7个月赚51万元!一个门外汉竟用工程思维连续养成饲料鳜
- ·实测朗行 引领越级两厢“大时代”
- ·首轮海选将落地东源仙塘,来聆听古村落的缤纷音乐
- ·The Techies Who Lunch
- ·角逐预制菜赛道有哪些“新姿势”?这本行业书籍来支招