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Updated August 2nd, 2021 at 07:19 IST

Joe Biden, Congress allow eviction ban to expire; anger mounts as millions may go homeless

“We can't in good faith blame Republicans Party” said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about Joe Biden, Congress over laxity in clearing the eviction ban Bill.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
Joe Biden
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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As the nationwide ban on evictions expired in the United States on Saturday amid the coronavirus pandemic, infuriated American renters lashed out at the US Congress and President Joe Biden asking to provide the end minute solution to protect them from the stark possibility of being evicted. Lawmakers meanwhile expressed anger and frustration at the US President for ‘inaction’ as the eviction moratorium expired, and now millions of Americans risk being forced out of their homes. US Congress was ‘blindsided’ by President Joe Biden’s laxity, sources told Associated Press. Even as the deadline neared, he had no Plan B. 

“Democrats have to call a spade a spade,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in her remarks about the evictions. “We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have a majority,” the congresswoman told  CNN’s State of the Union, as quoted by AP. 

Democratic Representative Cori Bush, D-Mo., meanwhile set up a camp outside the Capitol in protest registering grief over renters going homeless due to US President Biden’s lack of solution. Biden had earlier asked the Congress to “extend the eviction moratorium to protect such vulnerable renters and their families without delay,” the White House said in a statement. But shortly afterwards, it added, that the Dems will allow a nationwide ban on evictions to expire arguing that “its hands are tied” as the apex court gave a verdict that the moratorium could be extended only until the end of July. 

[Credit: AP]

“Given the recent spread of the delta variant, including among those Americans both most likely to face evictions and lacking vaccinations, President Biden would have strongly supported a decision by the CDC to further extend this eviction moratorium to protect renters at this moment of heightened vulnerability,” the White House said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has made clear that this option is no longer available.”

3.6 million now risk facing evictions 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Sherrod Brown, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, were working earlier on legislation to extend the moratorium until the end of the year. But the US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh had stated that he will block any additional extensions unless there was “clear and specific congressional authorization,” AP reported. This came as 6.4 million American households were behind their rents due to the COVID-19 pandemic and loss of means of income or financial challenges, as per the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Now, 3.6 million people in the US risk evictions. 

Credits: AP

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Published August 2nd, 2021 at 07:19 IST

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