House Democrats fail to get enough votes to extend COVID eviction ban

The eviction ban stops landlords from evicting their tenants during the pandemic and expires Sunday.

Published: July 30, 2021 6:05pm

Updated: July 30, 2021 7:14pm

House Democrat leaders failed Friday to get enough votes to extend the ban on evictions amid the pandemic two days before it is set to expire.

"We don’t have the votes," a Democratic aide told The Hill after two Democratic lawmakers said that the possible floor vote Friday had been scrapped.

President Biden urged Congress the day before to extend the moratorium to September as the Supreme Court recently decided that he could not unilaterally extend the ban.

"We are proud and pleased that, overwhelmingly, House Democrats have understood the hardship caused by rental evictions and support extending the eviction moratorium to October 18, 2021," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Whip James Clyburn said in a statement Friday. "Unfortunately, not a single Republican would support this measure."

The ban was put in place last September by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to allow tenants to stay in their residence without fear of being evicted during the pandemic.