U.S. Rep. Cori Bush and the eviction ban
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of St. Louis has been sleeping out in front of the Capitol building since Friday night to protest the expiration of a federal eviction moratorium. She is generating a lot of headlines but not necessarily for the right reasons, mainly because she clearly misunderstands the complicated process required to restore the moratorium. As with many progressive ideals, righteoussounding aspirations never seem to take into account political reality.
While simulating homelessness on the steps of the Capitol, Bush tweeted a demand that President Joe Biden "extend the eviction moratorium" and that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer force legislative action.
It's as if she believes those three can wave their wands and magically make things better.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratorium, in effect since September 2020, was initially slated to expire in December. Lawmakers extended it through Jan. 31, after which the CDC extended it twice. A 5-4 Supreme Court majority ruled in June that the moratorium could continue through the end of July, but conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, siding with the majority, made clear he would block any additional extensions without "clear and specific congressional authorization."
The Biden administration admitted its hands were tied and allowed the moratorium to lapse. He threw it to Congress, but the body adjourned on Friday without acting. Biden reportedly is looking at other ways to declare a new moratorium.
But even if House Democrats had voted to extend the moratorium, nothing seems to get past the evenly divided Senate without a lengthy fight. And that's the political reality Bush so conveniently overlooks with such publicity stunts.
Asked how long she planned to keep protesting, Bush told reporters, "It ends when we win, it ends when we win. It ends when we don't have to worry about this moratorium at this point. It ends when we get to say, 'Okay, we got a little bit of time. Let's go ahead and get to work to get a bill done so Congress can actually act.' That's when it ends for me."
Having been homeless and forced to live in her car with her two children, Bush has a level of expertise on the crisis of eviction that no other member of Congress can match. By all means, she should use that experience to inform her colleagues in the same way that Iraq veterans like Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois use their experiences to persuade colleagues on military and veterans issues.
But Bush should understand that demands issued by tweet tend not to yield durable solutions, especially naïve ones insisting that the president defy the Supreme Court. While Bush deserves praise for the strength of her convictions, perhaps she would be more effective relying less on showmanship and more on persuasion to get Congress off the dime.