WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:03.200 JUDY WOODRUFF: We have two lead stories out of Washington tonight. 00:03.200 --> 00:08.200 First, the country is on the verge of a massive wave of housing instability after the 00:08.320 --> 00:13.320 federal ban on rental evictions expired over the weekend. Congress failed to extend a moratorium. 00:15.200 --> 00:19.200 And President Biden declined to do so in the face of a court order. 00:19.200 --> 00:24.200 Today, Gene Sperling, who is the White House coordinator of pandemic recovery funds, 00:24.880 --> 00:29.880 said the president's hands are tied after a Supreme Court ruling in June made it clear 00:30.160 --> 00:33.920 that another extension by presidential order wouldn't stand. 00:33.920 --> 00:35.680 GENE SPERLING, White House American Rescue Plan Coordinator: The wording 00:35.680 --> 00:40.680 in the Supreme Court opinion was fairly clear that they said the CDC could not 00:44.960 --> 00:49.960 grant such extension without -- quote -- "clear and specific congressional authorization." 00:50.320 --> 00:53.840 I think, really, what has happened, what we are all dealing with 00:53.840 --> 00:58.840 is that the rise of the Delta variant is particularly harmful for those who are most 01:01.040 --> 01:06.040 likely to face evictions. And as that reality became more clear going into the end of last week, 01:08.240 --> 01:12.720 I think all of us started asking, what more could we do? 01:12.720 --> 01:17.720 JUDY WOODRUFF: And our White House correspondent, Yamiche Alcindor, joins me now. 01:17.840 --> 01:22.240 So, Yamiche, tell us more about what is behind the president's decision not 01:22.240 --> 01:26.480 to extend this ban himself? And what is making this issue so contentious? 01:26.480 --> 01:29.520 YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, the federal moratorium and the contention 01:29.520 --> 01:34.000 and scrambling around it comes to two big things, law and politics. 01:34.000 --> 01:38.720 On the legal side, White House aides, Gene Sperling, a number of other sources I have 01:38.720 --> 01:42.000 been talking to, they have been underscoring the idea that President Biden didn't think 01:42.000 --> 01:45.440 that he had the legal authority to extend this eviction moratorium. 01:45.440 --> 01:48.880 They say they looked around. They could not find any legal option to do that, 01:48.880 --> 01:52.400 because the Supreme Court said that there would need to be congressional 01:52.400 --> 01:55.760 authorization if a presidential order was to extend the ban. 01:55.760 --> 01:59.920 They also say that the CDC looked into this, even looking into targeted 01:59.920 --> 02:03.920 eviction moratoriums for areas with high infection rates. And even that, 02:03.920 --> 02:06.880 in that limited way, it was also seen as not a legal option. 02:06.880 --> 02:10.800 That said, when I pushed Gene Sperling and when I talked to sources, there's another issue here, 02:10.800 --> 02:14.960 and that is that the White House does not want to go to the Supreme Court and have the court 02:14.960 --> 02:19.760 strike down other sort of federal policies that make broad use of public health laws. 02:19.760 --> 02:23.920 So that's somewhat of their thinking. Then there's the politics of this. We saw House Speaker Nancy 02:23.920 --> 02:28.880 Pelosi come out and urge President Biden to extend this eviction moratorium. Progressives are also 02:28.880 --> 02:32.800 saying the White House waited too long, that they should have been dealing with this issue at all. 02:32.800 --> 02:36.560 But the president then again says his hands are tied, that Congress needs to be doing 02:36.560 --> 02:40.640 something. And he's also pushing states and localities to try to provide resources to people. 02:40.640 --> 02:43.760 JUDY WOODRUFF: So, given all that, where does this go from here? 02:43.760 --> 02:45.520 YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, that's the big question. 02:45.520 --> 02:49.920 Gene Sperling today said that thousands of Americans could be facing evictions. 02:50.560 --> 02:54.320 President Biden says that he's going to be double-, triple-checking. He's going to be 02:54.320 --> 02:58.320 kicking the tires to try to find legal options and other ways to help people. 02:58.320 --> 03:02.000 But there really is a big question of what more of the White House and Congress can do. 03:02.560 --> 03:04.560 They're -- really, the White House is really putting it in the hands 03:04.560 --> 03:07.600 of Congress and local authorities. But that is where some people feel as though 03:07.600 --> 03:11.120 the White House is scapegoating, shifting the blame here, shifting responsibility. 03:11.120 --> 03:13.440 The White House, though, is underscoring they're doing all that they can. 03:13.440 --> 03:18.440 JUDY WOODRUFF: All right, Yamiche Alcindor on this fast-moving story, thank you very much. 03:18.720 --> 03:23.720 YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Thanks.