Biden bends to liberals, gives renters another eviction moratorium

The Biden administration on Tuesday buckled to pressure from liberal House Democrats and announced a limited moratorium on evictions as landlords and tenants flooded courts across the country after a comprehensive federal ban expired over the weekend.

The action will be targeted to areas of the U.S. with the highest rates of COVID-19 infections, covering 80% of the nation’s counties and 90% percent of the population.

The moratorium will last for 60 days, expiring on Oct. 3, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Tensions between the Biden administration and House Democrats escalated over the weekend. Each side blamed the other for letting the moratorium lapse, potentially leaving as many as 15 million people homeless.

It is not clear whether the new eviction moratorium will survive legal challenges. The Supreme Court last month signaled that the CDC overstepped its authority when it imposed the first ban in September 2020.

Speaking with reporters at the White House, President Biden said he didn’t know whether the option would pass constitutional muster. He said it was worth the effort because it would give renters extra time to figure out how to stay in their homes.

“There are a few scholars who say it will and others who say it’s not likely to,” Mr. Biden said. “But, at a minimum, by the time it gets litigated, it will probably give some additional time while we’re getting that $45 billion out to people who are in fact behind in the rent and don’t have the money.”

Mr. Biden was referring to the roughly $45 billion that the federal government provided to states and cities to keep renters in their homes under his coronavirus relief package. The White House has criticized states and cities for being “too slow” to disburse those funds.

The New Civil Liberties Alliance, which successfully sued the Biden administration to strike down the first eviction ban, vowed to take the latest moratorium to court.