AOC blames Democrats for eviction moratorium expiring: ‘We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Sunday blamed Democrats – both in the House of Representatives and at the White House – for allowing the eviction moratorium to expire, as millions of American families are at risk of being kicked out of their homes.

“The House and House leadership had the opportunity to vote to extend the moratorium, and there was frankly a handful of conservative Democrats in the House who threatened to get on planes rather than hold this vote,” she said on CNN “State of the Union.” “We have to really just call a spade a spade. We cannot, in good faith, blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have the majority.”

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in June to allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to keep its eviction moratorium in place until July 31, saying that Congress would have to authorize any further extension. But the White House still waited a month until the day before the House adjourned to release a statement asking Congress to extend the moratorium, Ocasio-Cortez said.

A member of the House Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over housing, she told CNN’s Jake Tapper that representatives had been pressing the House Secretary and the Biden administration for their stance on extending the eviction moratorium, but “they were not being forthright about that advocacy and that request until the day before the House adjourned.”

“The House was put into a needlessly difficult situation,” Ocasio-Cortez said, arguing her sentiment has been echoed by Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who rushed to draft a bill that would have extended the moratorium through the end of 2021. The bill failed to pass.- READ MORE