Photos: Twitter
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Friday, Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush (shown above left, next to Rep. Ayanna Pressley, sleeping with homeless advocates outside Congress on Friday night) sent a letter to her Democratic colleagues urging them to remain in Washington ahead of a scheduled August recess. She pushed for an urgent vote to extend the federal eviction moratorium. The current moratorium, put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is set to expire on Saturday.
On Friday night, Rep. Bush slept outside the halls of Congress showing solidarity with the millions who now face eviction. Bush reportedly is planning to sleep for a second night outside Congress to dramatize the seriousness of the situation. Fellow Democrats Rep. Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley also slept outside Congress Friday night with Bush.
More than 6 million American families are currently behind on rent due to the pandemic and are at risk of eviction.
“I’m urging you to please hear me out on this issue because as a formerly unhoused Congresswoman, I have been evicted three times myself. I know what it’s like to be forced to live in my car with my two children,” Congresswoman Bush wrote. Now that I am a member of Congress, I refuse to stand by while millions of people are vulnerable to experiencing that same trauma that I did.
“If Congress does not act now, the fallout of the eviction crisis will undoubtedly set us backwards as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravish our communities ─ needlessly contributing to more death and suffering. After the loss of nearly 600,000 Americans due to this pandemic, lawmakers need to be held to the highest levels of accountability to enact legislation that protects human life. I know firsthand the trauma and devastation that comes with the violence of being evicted, and we have a responsibility to do everything we can to prevent this trauma from being inflicted on our neighbors and communities.”
Reports show that out of more than 400 states, counties and cities that received funding for Emergency Rental Assistance, just 36 have been able to spend half of the money allotted to them. Congresswoman Bush is urging her colleagues to vote to extend the eviction moratorium to give state and local governments time to distribute the funds needed to keep people housed.
A PDF of the letter can be found here.
Congresswoman Cori Bush represents Missouri’s First Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. She serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. She is also a Deputy Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a proud member of the Congressional Black Caucus. She is a registered nurse, single mother, and an ordained pastor. Following the murder of Michael Brown Jr. by a now-terminated Ferguson police officer, she became a civil rights activist and community organizer fighting for justice for Black lives on the streets of Missouri and across the country.
