House Speaker Nancy Pelosi failed to push legislation through the House that would extend an eviction moratorium as part of a last-minute effort.
The House Rules Committee met on Friday about the Protecting Renters from Evictions Act of 2021 bill, which failed to get a floor vote on Friday before Congress’s August recess. Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters and Pelosi huddled on Friday but failed to whip enough votes. The matter was later brought to the floor for unanimous consent and failed.
The move came at the urging of the Biden administration, which said its hands were tied by a recent Supreme Court decision on the matter.
“Given the recent spread of the delta variant … [President Joe] Biden would have strongly supported a decision by the CDC to further extend this eviction moratorium,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. “Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has made clear that this option is no longer available.”
In a recent 5-4 ruling, the high court voted to maintain the eviction moratorium through the end of July in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, making it clear that congressional guidance would be needed to extend the ban further.
Psaki also encouraged all states and local municipalities that received aid through the pandemic Emergency Rental Assistance programs to “urgently accelerate their efforts to disburse these funds.”
Even if it had passed the House, the bill would need to pass the Senate to go into effect. Although Democrats hold a slight edge with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaking vote, the chamber is still split 50-50, and it was not likely that enough Republicans would join the Democrats in overcoming the filibuster.
In a letter to her colleagues, Pelosi noted that of the $46.5 billion in rental relief approved by Congress, only $3 billion has actually been disbursed to renters.
“Congress must act again. We have the power to extend the eviction moratorium to provide relief, as we encourage state and local governments to distribute the money that we allocated,” Pelosi told lawmakers prior to the effort’s failure.
Biden also put out a statement Friday evening, urging state and local governments to disburse the funds immediately.
“Five months later, with localities across the nation showing that they can deliver funds effectively — there can be no excuse for any state or locality not accelerating funds to landlords and tenants that have been hurt during this pandemic,” the president said. “Every state and local government must get these funds out to ensure we prevent every eviction we can.”
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The COVID-19 pandemic has amped back up after months of decline. The delta variant has taken hold across the country and is now responsible for a vast majority of new infections. The virus has caused some municipalities like Washington, D.C., to implement new restrictions like mask requirements.
