Expiration of eviction moratorium leaves White House and congressional Democrats scrambling

CNN via MSN ^ | 8/02/21 | Kevin Liptak

[Libloather]

White House officials on Monday described a behind-the-scenes scramble over the weekend to locate any legal avenue for the administration to continue barring evictions.

The effort ultimately came up short, the officials said, leaving millions of renters in the lurch and exposing a rare divide with Democratic members of Congress.

"I don't think this means this President is going to give up," said Gene Sperling, the White House official responsible for managing coronavirus relief efforts, during an afternoon briefing. "I think he's going to keep looking, keep pushing."

Still, Sperling and other White House officials made clear that even after renewed examination, the President's authority to continue banning evictions was limited. Instead, the White House said it was working to prevent a major housing crisis by calling on states to accelerate rental assistance payments and pass their own laws banning evictions.

But a disconnect with Congress was still evident, as Democratic leaders continued to call on Biden to extend the moratorium even though his administration made clear he lacks the legal authority to do it.

The White House and congressional Democrats each sought to explain how a long-anticipated sunset of a nationwide eviction moratorium appeared to catch them by surprise last week, allowing the provision to expire and leaving millions of renters in the lurch.

[IAGeezer912]

They need the US citizens out of the apartments so they can move in the illegals.