The White House has rankled liberal Democrats at a time when President Joe Biden needs their approval to pass his $1.2 trillion bipartisan brick-and-mortar infrastructure package.
The White House’s last-minute decision to delegate the latest extension of the federal eviction moratorium to lawmakers has enraged the likes of New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and provoked Missouri Rep. Cori Bush to stage a sleep-in protest on Capitol Hill. And Biden requires their votes if the House is to clear his Senate-drafted infrastructure bill.
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The national eviction moratorium drama is “a self-imposed problem,” according to former Democratic Party activist-turned-Colby College politics professor Sandy Maisel. And it was a move that has exacerbated the Left’s frustrations with Biden, whose party controls a three-seat majority in the House. It has also exposed renters who have relied on the moratorium for shelter since September after the program lapsed last weekend.
“I do not pretend to understand the timing of his actions on the eviction moratorium,” Maisel told the Washington Examiner.
For Maisel, Biden is walking a tightrope between liberal and centrist Democrats, given his party’s tenuous control of Congress, but is balancing it “quite well.”
“I think he needs to upset [the Left] somewhat if he is going to get moderate Democrats, much less any Republicans, to support him,” he said.
Biden is revisiting executive action concerning the eviction moratorium this week, although White House press secretary Jen Psaki admitted in a statement Monday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been “unable to find legal authority” for a 30-day extension.
“Our team is redoubling efforts to identify all available legal authorities to provide necessary protections,” Psaki said. “The administration has provided states and local governments with the flexibility to get funds out efficiently without burdensome documentation, to use funds to help those who are homeless or in need of new housing, and to use American Rescue Plan state and local funds to expand any effort to help those whose housing is at risk due to the pandemic.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on the CDC this week to extend the eviction moratorium, despite the Supreme Court curtailing its authority through an adverse ruling in June. She urged lawmakers to facilitate legal cover for the federal agency to act and announced Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen would update her caucus on the roughly $50 billion already allocated for rent assistance.
Pelosi’s letter to colleagues on Monday is an attempt to deescalate tensions after tempers flared last weekend over the moratorium. Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at her colleagues, describing them as “cowards” for returning to their districts for the August recess without addressing the issue, and Bush staged what has become a multiday demonstration on the steps of the Capitol.
House Democrats failed to extend the eviction moratorium last week via a fast-track process known as unanimous consent. They had proposed prolonging the program until Oct. 18, though some had wanted it to remain until Dec. 31. Yet Pelosi faced pushback from her party, particularly since it was unlikely the measure would overcome a Senate filibuster.
Liberal Democrats are irked with the White House because it waited until three days before the eviction moratorium expired before advising them Biden would not unilaterally act. The White House cited the Supreme Court last week when justifying its decision but struggled with the delay. Instead, spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre insisted aides had “been having conversations with Congress for some time about this.”
“We appreciate Speaker Pelosi’s efforts. And we’re going to work closely with her on getting that done,” she said.
Both Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez took issue with the White House’s claim, the latter in harsher terms.
“Really, we only learned of this yesterday — not enough time to socialize it within our caucus as well as to build the consensus necessary,” Pelosi said.
“I sit on Financial Services, which has jurisdiction over housing,” Ocasio-Cortez added separately. “We asked about the administration’s stance, and we weren’t getting any commitment on advocacy for extension. So, I’m not here for the excuses about how this is the court’s fault. This is on the administration.”
Pelosi implored the CDC last week to extend the eviction moratorium as “a moral imperative,” which would prevent people from becoming homeless and contributing to the public health crisis.
“As the CDC doubles down on mask-wearing and vaccination efforts, science and reason demand that they must also extend the moratorium in light of the delta variant,” she said in a joint statement with top Democrats.
The eviction moratorium fracas is unfolding after reports that only a fraction of the $46.5 billion in federal funds for rent assistance has been spent. Local and state governments have been blamed, in part, for only $3 billion being distributed.
The National Association of Realtors has ramped up a countercampaign, complaining that the eviction moratorium is an “unsustainable” restriction on property operations.
The White House has similarly annoyed liberal Democrats with its inaction regarding student debt cancellation. A pause on certain federal student loan repayments ends in September, setting up the possibility last week’s events will be repeated soon.
Far-left Democrats are agitating Biden to cancel $50,000 in debt per eligible student. Biden, however, would prefer lawmakers to forgive $10,000 in loans per student.
“Look, the Department of Education is working in partnership with colleagues at the Department of Justice and the White House to review options with respect to debt cancellation,” Jean-Pierre said last week. “I don’t have any update.”
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The Senate unveiled the legislative text last weekend for Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal. The final vote in that chamber could come as early as this week before it is considered by the House, where liberals are nervous about its impact on the larger reconciliation bill they prefer.
