- New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday blamed members of her own party for allowing the federal eviction moratorium to expire.
- AOC said the Biden administration should've acted more quickly in directing Congress to act.
- "We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have the majority," she said during a CNN interview.
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday blamed a "handful of conservative Democrats" and the Biden administration's inaction for creating panic and allowing the federal eviction moratorium to expire.
"There were a handful of conservative Democrats that threatened to get on planes rather than hold this vote, and we have to really just call a spade a spade," Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat, said Sunday during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union."
"We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have the majority," she added.
The White House on Thursday said it would not renew the federal eviction moratorium, citing a recent Supreme Court ruling that said Congress must take action to renew it. The Biden administration called on Congress to act just before its recess, leaving Democrats in both chambers scrambling to pass legislation.
The ban on evictions was enacted at the start of the pandemic in the US in March 2020. According to data from the US Census Bureau data, 7.4 million households in the US are behind on rent as of last month, meaning millions now face eviction from landlords looking to recoup lost rent.
The House failed to pass a bill to extend the moratorium Friday before lawmakers went into its recess that will last until September, as Insider previously reported. Following its failure to pass legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Democrats blamed Republicans for posing roadblocks to the extension.
But other Democrats, including California Rep. Maxine Waters, Ocasio-Cortez, and Missouri Rep. Cori Bush expressed disappointment with their own party.
"I just thought we should've fought harder," Waters, a California Democrat, told reporters.
Bush, also a progressive, blasted her own party on Saturday, saying "some Democrats went on vacation" instead of staying in DC to pass the moratorium extension.
"Now, there is something to be said for the fact that this court order came down on the White House a month ago, and the White House waited until a day before the House adjourned to release a statement asking on Congress to extend the moratorium," Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday.
"We asked the Biden administration about their stance and they were not really being really forthright about that advocacy and that request until the day before the House adjourned," she added.
Ocasio-Cortez called on her fellow members of the House to reconvene to vote to extend the moratorium.