AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File
- House and Senate Democrats are scrambling to renew a federal eviction ban after Biden urged them at the last-minute.
- In a statement to Insider, a spokesperson for Sen. Sherrod Brown said he was working with Schumer on legislation.
- Nearly six million people are at risk of eviction starting in two days.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Congressional Democrats are rushing to assemble legislation to renew a federal eviction ban before it expires
Democrats in both chambers are trying to draft a bill and put it to a rapid vote sometime in the next two days. The moratorium expires on July 31. After that, around 6 million people are at risk of getting evicted in the coming months, or 16% of all renters, per Census Pulse Survey Data.
The Biden administration on Thursday said it would not renew a federal eviction ban and the matter was ultimately left up to Congress, citing a recent Supreme Court ruling. The high court's decision stated that Congress needed to renew it.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said though the administration "strongly supported" renewing the federal eviction ban, the Supreme Court ruling essentially tied its hands. The administration instead called for the quick dispersal of emergency rental aid which has been slow to get to renters. Psaki also said Biden is asking various federal agencies to implement limited eviction bans through September's end.
Banking and Housing Committee chair Sherrod Brown initially held off pushing for an extension, saying it should be left up to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency intervened and put the moratorium in place last year under President Donald Trump, citing the urgency of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Now Brown is playing a key role assembling a bill to renew it past July 31.
In a statement to Insider, a spokesperson for Brown's office said he "supports an extension of the eviction moratorium and will work with Leader Schumer to pass legislation that will allow our nation's renters to stay in their homes during this crisis."
It was unclear what date House and Senate Democrats would ultimately agree on. A person familiar with the talks in the House said their version would attempt to extend it sometime until the end of the year.
Democrats in recent days had stepped up their calls for the administration to renew the ban. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranked Senate Democrat, were among them.