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- Representative Cori Bush on Saturday accused Democrats of going on vacation before passing a law that would have renewed the moratorium on evictions.
- About 7.4 million Americans face deportation over the next two months after the moratorium ends on July 31.
- The House failed to pass a bill that would have extended the moratorium and members are now on vacation until August.
Representative Cori Bush slammed Democrats, saying they decided to take a break before the next expiry of the eviction moratorium, potentially plunging millions of tenants into disarray.
“We could have extended it yesterday, but some Democrats went on vacation instead,” said Bush, a progressive representative from Missouri. Twitter Saturday morning.
“We slept at the Capitol last night asking them to come back and do their jobs. Today is their last chance. We’re still here,” she added, tweeting a photo of herself and several activists outside the Capitol building.
Hours after failing to pass a bill that would have extended the moratorium on evictions, the House entered a recess on Friday that will last until August.
The moratorium on evictions, first put in place in September 2020 in response to the financial devastation caused by the coronavirus, was extended in June by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The White House urged Congress to extend the moratorium after July, giving advice on doing so at the last minute. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement that the Biden administration had “strongly supported” the CDC in a decision to renew the moratorium. But a Supreme Court ruling clarified that the decision to renew required congressional approval, the White House statement said.
Democrats voted unanimously to pass the bill, but Republican members of the House blocked the legislation.
After the failure of the bill, the main Democrats expressed their disappointment in a statement.
“It is extremely disappointing that Republicans in the House and Senate have refused to work with us on this issue,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Whip. Majority House James Clyburn after the failed vote. “We urge them to reconsider their opposition to helping millions of Americans and to join us in helping tenants and landlords hardest hit by the pandemic and preventing a nationwide eviction crisis.”
Bush told Insider she was ready to spend a second day sleeping outside the Capitol building in an attempt to convince House Democrats to meet again.
“This is not the first time that I have occupied in front of a government building. And it is not the first time that I have had to sleep outside,” she said.
—Joseph Zeballos-Roig (@josephzeballos) July 31, 2021
“I’m ready to stand out here if need be. Do I want it? No. Is it fun? Absolutely not. Would I rather be in my bed? Absolutely,” she continued. , adding that she was initially to abstain for Congresswoman Nina Turner.
“But it happened and I knew I couldn’t leave without doing all I could to save lives,” Bush told Insider.
During her Friday night stay, the Missouri lawmaker said she had only slept for an hour in the cold and had “only one chair” and “a sleeping bag that I ‘used as a blanket’. Reps Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar also spent the night out with Bush.
After the moratorium expires on July 31, an estimated 7.4 million Americans are at risk of deportation over the next two months. This translates to about 16% of all renters, according to Census Pulse Survey data.
Meanwhile, the owners are set to be evicted quickly, Business Insider’s Alex Nicoll reported. A New York attorney told Insider that homeowners wanted to be ready to serve eviction notices on August 1. These evictions could exacerbate the national homelessness crisis.
It sends a “very disturbing message” when the House, Senate and White House are all led by Democrats but lawmakers cannot push through such legislation, Bush told Insider.
So far, she has not heard her colleagues in the House talk about the potential for lawmakers to return to the floor.
But several members of Congress – like Representatives Jamaal Bowman, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Maxine Waters, who introduced the bill to extend the moratorium on Friday – told Bush they would return if recalled.
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