为了应对来自民主党领导人和国会进步人士的政治压力，延长周六到期的联邦驱逐禁令，拜登政府周一宣布了防止驱逐的新措施，但没有达到民主党人推动的全面延长，白宫官员继续辩称，最高法院的裁决限制了他们做更多的事情。
拜登的高级顾问、美国救援计划事务协调员吉恩·斯珀林(Gene Sperling)在下午的白宫新闻发布会上表示:“这是一位真正理解驱逐令人心碎的总统。“他之所以不断施压，甚至在法律权威看起来渺茫的情况下也如此，是因为他想确保我们已经探索了每一个潜在的权威。”
白宫表示，乔·拜登总统周日向疾病预防和控制中心提出了采取行政行动的前景，即通过新的为期30天的驱逐禁令来保护租房者，该禁令侧重于高或高病例率的县。
白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)在一份声明中表示:“这项临时措施将刺激各州和地方在本月全速推进紧急租赁援助计划，让每个房东都有机会收取欠他们的租金，并确保没有符合条件的家庭被驱逐。
“到目前为止，疾控中心主任罗谢尔·瓦伦斯基和她的团队还没有找到新的、有针对性的暂停驱逐的法律依据。我们的团队正在加倍努力，确定所有可用的法律机构，以提供必要的保护，”她说。“与此同时，总统将继续尽其所能帮助租房者免遭驱逐。”
作为这一努力的一部分，白宫直接呼吁各州和地方至少在未来两个月内延长或实施驱逐禁令，并强调数据显示，三分之一的租房者已经居住在因州驱逐延期而延长了免于驱逐保护的州。
政府还呼吁州和地方法院听取司法部的呼吁，暂停驱逐程序，直到租户和房东能够首先寻求获得国会分配的紧急租赁援助资金。
它还向房东个人发出挑战，要求他们在下个月推迟驱逐，并要求公用事业提供商与州和地方政府合作，也获得这些资金，以避免因大流行而切断对拖欠付款者的服务。
白宫美国救援计划协调员吉恩·斯珀林说。拜登正试图“两倍、三倍、四倍检查”是否有法律授权延长现已失效的驱逐禁令。https://t.co/JEOVEvcf3spic.twitter.com/04msfi3hJn
—美国广播公司新闻政治(@美国广播公司政治)2021年8月2日
作为对民主党批评者的直接回应，拜登指示财政部调查为什么各州花了这么长时间才分配国会分配的近470亿美元租金援助资金，其中只有30亿美元被使用。
白宫还表示，将对配合他们努力的房东给予奖励——尽管目前还不清楚这些奖励是什么。
批评人士说，斯珀林周一在白宫简报中概述了一系列措施，但当被问及为什么政府没有采取更多措施时，他向最高法院和国会提出了质疑，政府呼吁国会在最后一刻采取行动。
“现在，我们已经强调，总统也继续强调，州和地方政府必须做得更多。所有这些都是为了加速向这些租房者和房东提供资金，尤其是当我们面临驱逐禁令的结束和三角洲变种的崛起时，我们认识到这不是一项容易的任务，”他说。“作为一个国家，我们从来没有一个国家基础设施或国家政策来防止可避免的驱逐。”
随着360万美国人众议院议长南希·佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)冒着最快周一被驱逐的风险，再次呼吁拜登政府立即延长现已失效的驱逐禁令，此前众议院民主党人上周末未能通过一致同意将其延长至10月18日的立法。
佩洛西在一份声明中谈到疾病控制和预防中心时说:“由于他们呼吁美国人民戴上口罩，接种疫苗，并采取其他公共卫生预防措施，认识到这一紧迫性，他们延长驱逐暂停令至关重要。”新字母周一早上发给民主党同事。"让人们走上街头助长了病毒的传播。"
它来自新生众议员柯里·布什。她强调了自己曾经是如何无家可归的，她第三天晚上睡在国会大厦的台阶上，抗议暂停令的结束，尽管大多数众议院议员已经回家参加8月份的休会。
凌晨5点。今天早上感觉很冷，就像风直接吹过我的睡袋。从周五开始——当时一些同事选择提前休假而不是投票来防止驱逐——我们一直在国会大厦。这是紧急驱逐。我们的人民需要暂停驱逐。现在。
—柯里·布什(@科里布什)2021年8月2日
白宫上周表示，它不能单方面延长暂停令，因为最高法院在6月下旬做出了一项裁决，当时布雷特·卡瓦诺法官代表5比4的多数党写道，他将阻止进一步延长，除非“有明确和具体的国会授权。”
但民主党领导人已经将延长这项措施的责任——他们称之为“道德义务”——推回到拜登和疾控中心身上，疾控中心去年9月首次实施暂停措施，此前拜登政府周四，也就是众议院8月休会的前一天，呼吁国会通过立法。
尽管立法者在最后一刻进行了争夺，但禁令于周六到期。
随着参议院重新开会，集中讨论前所未有的基础设施立法，参议员转向延长暂停的可能性很小。
佩洛西在一份声明中说:“需要采取行动，行动必须来自政府。”联合声明周日晚上，民主党多数党领袖史坦尼·霍耶、民主党党鞭吉姆·克莱伯恩和民主党助理议长凯瑟琳·克拉克。“随着疾控中心加倍努力戴口罩和接种疫苗，科学和理性要求他们也必须根据德尔塔变种延长暂停。”
民主党领导人还呼吁财政部说明州和地方政府如何更有效地提供国会自去年12月以来批准的数十亿美元租金援助。在470亿美元的可用资金中，到目前为止只有30亿美元被送出。
佩洛西周一还宣布，众议院民主党人将于周二听取财政部长珍妮特·耶伦的陈述，耶伦的部门今年早些时候转移了这些资金，旨在帮助租房者和房东在暂停期间赶上付款，但将这些资金分散出去是一个缓慢的过程。
在众议院8月休会期间，佩洛西开玩笑说，她可以召集议员回来提出立法。然而，由于参议院没有通过延期的意愿，她将责任推给了拜登。
总统周一从戴维营返回白宫，尚未直接回应佩洛西的最新信件，但他也呼吁加快国会批准的租金援助基金。
拜登在一份声明中说:“任何州或地方都没有理由不加速向在这场大流行中受到伤害的房东和房客提供资金。”声明星期五。
包括无家可归的布什在内的进步议员和纽约州亚历山大·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯呼吁他们的同事做得更多。
奥卡西奥-科尔特斯说:“当众议院民主党人占多数时，我们不能真诚地指责共和党。”说在美国有线电视新闻网周日的“国情咨文”中。“现在，对于一个月前法院对白宫下达的这项命令，有话要说，白宫一直等到众议院休会的前一天才发布声明，要求国会延长暂停令。”
她和其他进步民主党人也写了一封信，敦促拜登政府采取行动，周末，她和布什以及国会大厦外的活动人士一起，提请人们注意他们所说的公共卫生紧急情况。
他们在信中说:“延长驱逐禁令对我们所代表的社区来说是生死攸关的事情。
布什周一仍在国会大厦台阶上，她在周末告诉美国广播公司新闻，她对暂停令没有延长感到“沮丧”和“厌恶”，也没有离开的计划。
根据美国人口普查局6月底至7月初的最新调查，约有740万成年房客报告说他们拖欠房租。
Biden White House, under pressure from Democrats, responds on evictions
Responding to political pressure from Democratic leaders and progressives in Congress to extend the federal ban on evictions that expired Saturday, the Biden administration announced Monday new measures to prevent evictions -- but they fell short of the full extension Democrats pushed for, with White House officials continuing to argue they're constrained from doing more by a Supreme Court ruling.
"This is a president who really understands the heartbreak of eviction," Gene Sperling, a senior advisor to Biden and American Rescue Plan coordinator, said at an afternoon White House press briefing. "The reason why he is pressing and pressing, even when legal authority looks slim, is because he wants to make sure we have explored every potential authority."
The White House said President Joe Biden on Sunday raised with the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control the prospect of executive action though a new, 30-day eviction moratorium -- focused on counties with high or substantial case rates -- to protect renters.
"This temporary measure would spur States and localities to ramp up Emergency Rental Assistance programs to full speed this month, giving every landlord the opportunity to collect the rent they are owed and ensuring no eligible family gets evicted," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
"To date, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and her team have been unable to find legal authority for a new, targeted eviction moratorium. Our team is redoubling efforts to identify all available legal authorities to provide necessary protections," she said. "In the meantime, the President will continue to do everything in his power to help renters from eviction."
As part of that effort, the White House is directly calling on states and localities to extend or put in place eviction bans for at least the next two months, highlighting data that one in three renters already live in states that have extended protections against evictions due to state eviction moratoria.
The administration also is calling on state and local courts to heed the call of the Justice Department to pause eviction proceedings until tenants and landlords can first seek to access congressionally allocated emergency rental assistance funds.
And it has challenged landlords personally to hold off on evictions for the next month and asked utility providers to work with state and local governments to also access those funds to avoid cutting off services for those behind on payments due to the pandemic.
White House American Rescue Plan Coordinator Gene Sperling says Pres. Biden is trying to “double, triple, quadruple check” whether there is legal authority to extend now-lapsed eviction moratorium.https://t.co/JEOVEvcf3spic.twitter.com/04msfi3hJn
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics)August 2, 2021
Responding directly to Democratic critics, Biden is instructing the Treasury Department to look into why it's taken so long for states to distribute the nearly $47 billion in congressionally-allocated funds for rental assistance -- of which only $3 billion has been used.
The White House also said it will give incentives to landlords who cooperate in their efforts -- though it's not clear yet what those incentives will be.
Sperling outlined the list of measures in the White House briefing Monday -- but punted to the Supreme Court and Congress when pressed why more hasn't been done by the administration, which called on Congress to act at the last minute, critics say.
"Now, we have stressed and the president has continued to stress the state and local governments must do more. All of them to accelerate funding to these renters and landlords, particularly as we face the end of the eviction moratorium, and the rise of Delta variants, and we recognize this is not an easy task," he said. "We as a country have never had a national infrastructure or national policy for preventing avoidable evictions."
With3.6 million Americansat risk of being evicted as soon as Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi repeated her call to the Biden administration to immediately renew the now-lapsed eviction moratorium after House Democrats over the weekend failed to pass legislation via unanimous consent to extend it to Oct. 18.
"As they have called upon the American people to mask up, to be vaccinated and to take other public health precautions, it is critical, in recognition of this urgency, that they extend the eviction moratorium," Pelosi said of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in anew letterto Democratic colleagues Monday morning. "Putting people on the streets contributes to the spread of the virus."
It comes after freshman Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who highlights how she was once homeless herself, spent her third night sleeping on the Capitol steps to protest the end of the moratorium even as most House lawmakers had already headed home for the August recess.
5 AM. This morning felt cold, like the wind was blowing straight through my sleeping bag.Since Friday—when some colleagues chose early vacation over voting to prevent evictions—we’ve been at the Capitol.It’s an eviction emergency. Our people need an eviction moratorium. Now.
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush)August 2, 2021
The White House said last week that it can't unilaterally extend the moratorium because of a Supreme Court ruling in late June when Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the 5-4 majority, said he would block additional extensions unless there was "clear and specific congressional authorization."
But Democratic leaders have put the responsibility to extend the measure -- which they've called a "moral imperative" -- back on Biden and the CDC, which first implemented the moratorium last September, after the Biden administration on Thursday, one day before the House adjourned for August recess, called on Congress to pass legislation.
Despite the 11th-hour scramble by lawmakers, the moratorium expired on Saturday.
With the Senate back in session to focus on unprecedented infrastructure legislation, the chances senators would pivot to a moratorium extension are slim.
"Action is needed, and it must come from the Administration," Pelosi said in ajoint statementwith Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark, D-Mass, on Sunday evening. "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."
The Democratic leaders also called on the Treasury Department to indicate how state and local governments can more efficiently deliver the billions in rental assistance Congress has authorized since last December. Of the $47 billion available, only $3 billion has been sent out so far.
Pelosi on Monday also announced House Democrats will have a presentation Tuesday from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, whose department transferred the funds earlier this year, which were intended to help renters and landlords with payments during the moratorium catch up -- but dispersing those out has been a slow process.
While the House adjourned for its August recess, Pelosi has teased that she could call members back to bring legislation. However, without a desire in the Senate to pass an extension, she's putting the onus back on Biden.
The president, who returned to the White House from Camp David Monday, has not yet directly responded to Pelosi's latest letters, but he has also called for the acceleration of congressionally-approved rental assistance funds.
“There can be no excuse for any state or locality not accelerating funds to landlords and tenants that have been hurt during this pandemic,” Biden said in astatementFriday.
Progressive lawmakers including Bush, who has been homeless, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have called on their colleagues to do more.
“We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have a majority,” Ocasio-Cortezsaidon CNN’s “State of the Union" Sunday. "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 the day before the House adjourned to release a statement asking on Congress to extend the moratorium."
She and other progressive Democrats, who also penned a letter to urge the Biden administration to take action, joined Bush and activists outside the Capitol over the weekend to draw awareness to what they call a public health emergency.
"Extending the eviction moratorium is a matter of life and death for the communities we represent," they said in the letter.
Bush, who was still on the Capitol steps Monday, told ABC News over the weekend that she was "frustrated" and "disgusted" that the moratorium was not extended and didn't have plans to leave.
According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau survey from late June and early July, about 7.4 million adult tenants reported they were behind on rent.
