CDC rebuffs Biden bid to reinstate COVID-19 eviction moratorium

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has turned down President Joe Biden's request for a new scaled-down pandemic-related moratorium on residential evictions, citing a lack of legal authority to take the action, the White House said on Monday.

The previous moratorium, which protected millions of Americans behind on their rent from being tossed out of houses and apartments, expired at midnight on Saturday, with Congress failing to renew it as Biden had asked. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier on Monday pressed Biden to have his administration renew the ban without congressional action.

Biden had asked the CDC to target a new moratorium on counties with higher COVID-19 case rates, the White House said.