Breaking: President Biden under pressure from Congressional Democrats to extend expired eviction moratorium as the pandemic surges...Black and Latino renters remain more at risk for eviction, research shows....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman

United States President Joe Biden

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By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden is under pressure from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fellow Democrats as Pelosi and House Democratic leaders on Sunday demanded that the Biden administration extend the national eviction moratorium put in place a year and a half ago to keep people in their homes as the coronavirus pandemic continues to escalate. 

Pelosi issued a written statement calling for immediate action by the Biden administration. It was also signed by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark, and Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat and the highest ranking Black in Congress.

Calling it a "moral imperative," House Democrats want the president to use his executive powers to extend the eviction moratorium that had been in place since March 2020 when the pandemic first hit the U.S. with a vengeance through Oct 18.

Some 3.6 million people are impacted by the moratorium that expired at midnight on Saturday, a disproportionate number of them Black.

Pelosi and House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters led a failed effort on Friday evening to try to reach a solution after Waters, a seasoned Democrat out of California, introduced a bill to renew the eviction moratorium.

But she and Pelosi were at odds over whether the House vote on the last minute extension bill should be made public with Waters wanting the latter.

The measure failed in the House after Stoyer stepped in and called for a unanimous consent, which does not require a vote.

Residents could be put out on the streets as early as Monday morning, increasing pressure for lawmakers to intervene on their behalf. 

Research continues to show that Blacks and Latinos are more likely to be suffering economically during the pandemic and remain at greater risk for evictions than their White counterparts. A  report dubbed "The State of the Nation's Housing 2020" found that over half of Black and Hispanic renter households were cost burdened going into the pandemic, compared to 42 percent of Asian and white households.

Democratic lawmakers in particular say they were caught off guard when President Biden announced Thursday that the moratorium would simply expire and said his excuse that he would not extend the eviction measure because the Supreme Court would likely require legislative action for further extensions is the easy way out.

The more progressive House lawmakers, namely U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush, were furious and camped outside the Capitol with other Democrats in protest.

The youngest woman ever elected to Congress, Ocasio-Cortez, 31, said Democrats have a majority in the House and must act responsibly on behalf of their constituents, and Rep. Bush expressed dismay that her colleagues have not taken a more assertive  approach to keeping people, many of them poor, Black and single mothers, in their homes as the delta variant continues to spread. 

Congressional Republicans are aligned with the president in arguing that any further extensions of the eviction moratorium would require legislative action by Congress.

Also at issue are the rights of landlords during a pandemic, lawmakers say. 

Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.