After Biden proposes, CDC issues new 60-day eviction moratorium

As President Joe Biden faced pressure from progressives, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new 60-day eviction moratorium.

Under heavy pressure from progressive Democrats to extend the eviction moratorium as millions of Americans faced being forced out of their homes, President Joe Biden on Tuesday said his administration would announce a new "safety valve" action. Shortly afterward, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order barring evictions for 60 days in counties with "substantial and high levels" of community transmission. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the agency had determined the evictions of tenants for failure to make rent or housing payments could be detrimental to public health control measures to slow the spread and that the eviction moratorium in the designated areas would apply until Oct. 3. "This moratorium is the right thing to do to keep people in their homes and out of congregate settings where COVID-19 spreads," Walensky said in a statement. "It is imperative that public health authorities act quickly to mitigate such an increase of evictions, which could increase the likelihood of new spikes in SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Such mass evictions and the attendant public health consequences would be very difficult to reverse."