‘This is not ok’: U.S. lawmaker protests evictions
Bush, a progressive Democrat who won her Missouri seat last year, managed about an hour of sleep sitting upright on a camp chair.
Bush remained outside the Capitol on Saturday afternoon urging an Instagram audience to join her demand that Congress, President Joe Biden or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stop the moratorium from expiring. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren stopped by to show her support.
"Today, by midnight," Bush said, "if nothing happens, if no other action is taken from the House, or the Senate or the administration, 7 million people will be at risk for evictions....I've been there myself."
People are at risk of eviction because of unpaid rent that accrued during the pandemic, when many lost jobs due to the economic fallout. The CDC imposed the moratorium 11 months ago in part to prevent the spread of the coronavirus through crowding in shelters and homes of people who would take in others.
The House of Representatives adjourned for a seven-week August recess on Friday without renewing the moratorium after a Republican congressman blocked a motion to extend it until Oct. 18. Lacking sufficient support, including among some Democrats, House Democrats opted not to bring legislation to a vote.
Biden on Thursday had asked Congress to extend the moratorium and made clear that his administration would not extend it again without congressional approval.
More than 6.5 million U.S. households are currently behind on $20 billion in rental payments, according to a study by the Aspen Institute and the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project.
