Pelosi urges White House to reinstate expired eviction moratorium
02 August 2021
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is urging President Biden and his administration to renew and extend the eviction moratorium after the House failed to secure enough votes to pass legislation to prevent its lapse.
Why it matters: Millions of tenants across the country face the threat of eviction after the moratorium expired this weekend.
- Last week, President Biden called on Congress to extend the CDC's national eviction moratorium, saying the administration couldn't extend it past July 31 without specific legislation.
What they're saying: Democratic House leadership issued a statement on Sunday, calling on the administration to "immediately extend the moratorium" through Oct. 18.
- "Doing so is a moral imperative to keep people from being put out on the street which also contributes to the public health emergency," Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) said.
- “The virus is still a threat. The moratorium must be extended, and the funds Congress allocated to assist renters and landlords must be spent. An extension of the moratorium is based on public health and the delta variant. It will also give more time to allow the money that Congress allocated to finally flow."
- Pelosi added in a letter to her Democratic colleagues on Monday that it "is unfathomable that we would not act to prevent people from being evicted."
- "As we urge the White House to act, please note that Congress will work to address any vulnerability to the CDC identified by the courts," she added.
Go deeper: Rep. Cori Bush and others sleep outside U.S. Capitol to protest end of federal eviction ban
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.