House Democrats and Republicans are clamoring for congressional action following Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling striking down President Joe Biden’s eviction moratorium.
The high court decision on Thursday shifts the moratorium fight back to Congress, where disagreements between parties and within the Democratic caucus have blocked legislative action.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement on Friday opposing the ruling but gave no clear indication about how Congress would attempt to resolve the issue. The House is not set to reconvene until Sept. 20.
SUPREME COURT BLOCKS BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S EVICTION MORATORIUM
The 6-3 ruling specifically rejected Biden’s executive authority to block evictions for those who don’t pay rent and said if the moratorium is to continue, Congress must authorize it.
“Congressional Democrats have not and will not ever accept a situation of mass evictions,” Pelosi said Friday. “We will continue our work to ensure that families suffering hardship during the pandemic can have the safety of home, as we also work with communities to ensure the immediate disbursement by states and localities of the over $45 billion allocated by Congress for rental assistance.”
Pelosi pressured Biden earlier this month to take steps to extend the moratorium via the executive branch, despite indications it could face a successful court challenge. Democrats argued the delta variant has led to a rise in cases and hospitalizations, and renters deserved additional protection.
Pelosi lacked the votes within her own party to pass a moratorium due to a disagreement among centrists and liberals about the length of the extension. When Congress failed to act, Rep. Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat, drew national attention by camping out on the front steps of the Capitol to highlight homelessness. Bush also criticized top Democrats for adjourning Congress without passing an eviction moratorium. Biden then announced he would extend the moratorium in many states, although he cast doubt on the legality of the move.
Pelosi’s statement on Friday suggests the House could respond to the high court ruling with a two-pronged approach that would include legislation restarting the eviction moratorium. But she’ll again be faced with intraparty division over how long to extend it.
She is unlikely to get any help from Republicans, who oppose extending the moratorium outright.
They cite the $45 billion in federal aid that has yet to be disbursed to both renters and landlords. Republicans say extending the moratorium would continue to place too heavy of a financial burden on landlords, who cannot collect rent but must still maintain and pay taxes on the buildings they are leasing.
On Friday, Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington and Patrick McHenry of North Carolina called on Pelosi to take up the GOP’s Renter Protection Act, which would speed up distribution of roughly $45 billion in aid away from the Treasury Department and into a single Emergency Rental Assistance program within 30 days.
McHenry, the lead Republican on the Financial Services Committee, said in a statement the high court ruling was largely expected, and he blamed the Biden administration for mismanaging the aid, which would be provided to both renters and landlords.
“The blame for this entire situation rests squarely with the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats,” McHenry said. “Instead of fixing the flawed Emergency Rental Assistance program to provide support to families in need, the Biden Administration extended its unconstitutional eviction moratorium.”
Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, introduced legislation earlier this summer that would have extended the eviction moratorium until Dec. 31.
“Without the votes to pass it, action must still be taken,” Waters said Friday.
In a statement, Waters indicated she’s working on a new legislative solution “that addresses this crisis and meets the moment.”
Pelosi told lawmakers in a memo Friday, “the House is assessing possible legislative remedies,” to the Supreme Court ruling and made reference to a measure in the works by Waters that would speed up distribution of federal aid.
At the White House on Friday, press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration would also work to distribute federal money to needy renters and landlords faster.
The federal government, she said, was working to make it easier for renters to prove their pandemic-related financial hardship and secure funding.
“If there were enough votes to pass an eviction moratorium in Congress, it would have happened. It hasn’t happened, right?” Psaki said. “So what we’re looking at now is how to achieve the objective that we all share.”
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Bush is calling on Congress to return and immediately pass an eviction moratorium.
“We were outside the Capitol for 5 days. Rain. Heat. Cold,” Bush tweeted. “If they think this partisan ruling is going to stop us from fighting to keep people housed, they’re wrong. Congress needs to act immediately. For every unhoused or soon to be unhoused person in our districts.”
