The leading Republican on the Senate Banking Committee is trying to get the latest eviction moratorium put in place by the Centers for Disease Control overturned, saying that the move “lacks both a legal and an economic justification.”
Sen. Pat Toomey [R-Pa.], the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter yesterday to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), asking if the moratorium constitutes a rule for the purposes of using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to have it overturned. Sen. Toomey has previously used the CRA to overturn other rules that were issued during the Obama administration. There have been some in the industry that have wondered whether Congress might consider using the CRA to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s debt collection rule.
The CDC announced a new eviction moratorium earlier this month after the original one put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic expired.
Sen. Toomey also filed a resolution in Congress that would make it possible to use the CRA to overturn the eviction moratorium.
“As I said when the previous administration created it, an eviction moratorium lacks both a legal and an economic justification,” said Sen. Toomey in a statement. “Even President Biden admitted last week that the ‘bulk of constitutional scholars’ agree ‘it’s not likely to pass constitutional muster.’ I hope my colleagues will join me in overturning this illegal action.”
Sen. Toomey is not giving the GAO much time to look into the matter. He asked for an answer by Monday.
The eviction moratorium has been a big issue since it was put in place in March 2020. A number of courts
