Progressive members of Congress pen letter urging Biden, CDC chief to act on expiring eviction ban

The letter asks the CDC to "leverage every authority available to extend the eviction moratorium."

In a new letter to President Joe Biden and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, progressive members of Congress are calling for the CDC to "leverage every authority available to extend the eviction moratorium" after the House failed to take action Friday to extend the eviction ban set to expire Saturday at midnight. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., along with Reps. Cori Bush, D-Mo., Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., signed on to the letter, seen first by ABC News, urging the administration, which has said its hands are tied by a June Supreme Court ruling, to act. "In the midst of the ongoing pandemic and the growing surges of the Delta variant across the nation, the impending eviction crisis is a matter of public health and safety and demands an urgent government response. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must leverage every authority available to extend the eviction moratorium before it is too late," the letter said. In June, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow the eviction ban to continue through the end of July but signaled in its ruling that it would block any further extensions unless there was "clear and specific congressional authorization."