33 Republican House members sign letter urging Biden to let evictions continue, calling moratorium a 'pandemic payout'

• 33 Republican House members want Biden to rescind the CDC's eviction moratorium.
• Rescinding the moratorium would result in millions of Americans losing their housing.
• Biden extended the moratorium August 3 after a protest by Rep. Cori Bush outside the Capitol.

33 Republican House members signed a letter Tuesday urging President Joe Biden to rescind an eviction moratorium issued August 3 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We are deeply concerned that this action was not extended to prevent COVID-19 transmission, but instead is being used to provide additional pandemic payouts," read the letter.

The letter, led by Republican Reps. Jim Banks and Doug Lamborn, argued that the present moratorium is illegal due to a recent ruling by a US district court judge and the opinion of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh; the justice wrote in a concurring opinion that the CDC had "exceeded its existing statutory authority" in issuing the moratorium.

"The CDC does not have the power to bypass Congress or ignore the Judicial System of the United States," said the letter. "In order to restore the credibility of the agency, the Center for Disease Control must return to its stated mission."

"We urge you to immediately halt these illegal actions and rescind the CDC's eviction moratorium," the letter concluded.

The current eviction moratorium was extended on August 3rd after originally being set to expire at the July. The House of Representatives attempted to pass the Protecting Renters from Evictions Act of 2021 by unanimous consent in order to stave off a looming eviction crisis, but Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina objected.

Some credited Rep. Cori Bush, a freshman Democratic lawmakers from Ferguson, MO, for helping encourage the Biden administration to extend the moratorium after she slept outside the Capitol in protest.