Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) attends The National Council for Incarcerated Women and Girls "100 Women for 100 Women" rally in Black Lives Matter Plaza near The White House on March 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. She stands with her hands on her hips and is wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt and a mask that reads "Good Trouble."
Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) attends The National Council for Incarcerated Women and Girls "100 Women for 100 Women" rally in Black Lives Matter Plaza near The White House on March 12, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images
  • The House of Representatives adjourned for the month without extending the federal eviction moratorium.
  • Rep. Cori Bush repeatedly asked her Democratic colleagues to return and vote on an extension.
  • Bush previously lived out of her car with her two children.
  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) will sleep on the steps of the Capitol on Friday in a push to extend the federal eviction moratorium, which is set to expire tomorrow.

Bush sent a tweet late Thursday and multiple letters throughout the day imploring other House Democrats to return from their adjournment and vote on the Protecting Renters from Evictions Act of 2021.

"I cannot in good conscience leave Washington tonight while a Democratic-controlled government allows millions of people to go unhoused as the Delta variant is ravaging our communities. Millions of people are about to lose their homes and, as Democrats, we must not give up on the chance to save their lives," Bush said in a letter to her colleagues.

Bush, who has previously experienced homelessness, called the House of Representatives' decision to adjourn before voting on the act a "moral failure."

"I have been unhoused and evicted. I've slept in my car and slept outdoors. I know what it's like, and I wouldn't wish that trauma on anyone," Bush said.

Nearly 6.2 million American households are at risk of eviction, according to The New York Times. Despite the passage of emergency rental assistance, Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, told the House Coronavirus Crisis Select Subcommittee Tuesday that these funds have yet to reach the vast majority of renters in need. Yentel said that nearly half of all states and more than 100 cities have distributed less than 5% of these funds.

"We have a deeply rooted misconception in our country that unhoused people have done something to deserve their conditions-when the reality is that unhoused people are living the consequences of our government's failure to secure the basic necessities people need to survive." Bush said. "In the wealthiest country in the world-no one deserves to be unhoused."

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