17:46
Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, and Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat of Ohio, are out with a joint statement about the state of the bipartisan Senate infrastructure deal:
We are close to finalizing legislative text that reflects the work of the bipartisan working group and hope to make it public later today. While various pieces of legislative text have been circulating among members, staff and the public for days, if not weeks, none of it is the final legislative text and should not be considered as such. When legislative text is finalized that reflects the product of our group, we will make it public together consistent with the bipartisan way we’ve worked for the last four months.
… and so the saga rolls on.
Also today, Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, said she thinks Democrats have “a very good case” for including immigration reform in the reconciliation measure meant to accompany the bipartisan infrastructure deal, and thereby to rely only on Democratic votes to pass.
Here’s some of Joanie’s reporting on the subject of infrastructure, the deal and the 17 Republicans who voted with Democrats to advance:
15:42
When the eviction moratorium expires on Saturday, the situation on Sunday for people behind on rent will depend on what state they live in.
Some states, such as California and Washington, still have local moratoriums in place. In states that don’t, such as Florida and Missouri, there are specific rules on processing a case.
Either way, people can’t be pushed out of their homes immediately on Sunday. Landlords are required to follow a legal process, including giving notice to the tenant, waiting the notice period (which can be as short as 3 days), filing the eviction and then going to court. In some states, this process is done in weeks.
A crucial detail is that $47bn in rental assistance has been allocated to help renters and landlords, but only 6.5% of it had been distributed as of June.
Some landlords may wait it out for them or their renter to get this money, while others may decide to push the renter out, which could also be an opportunity to raise rent. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has details on the help still available to renters here.
14:19
For months, Denise Forcer would get stressed just by opening her closet. The crush of belongings stuffed inside reminded her she didn’t know where she would go or what she would do if her landlord followed through with the eviction notices they kept posting on the door of her south Florida apartment.
“I thought I was going to have a breakdown, I really did,” Forcer, 51, told the Guardian. “I didn’t know when those people were going to come banging on my door or put up another paper.”
Forcer, like millions of other Americans, has been protected from eviction by a moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that expires at the end of this week. Unlike most of these renters, Forcer was able to pay off roughly three months of owed rent thanks to the $47bn in rental assistance the government allocated to stave off evictions.
But only 6.5% of that money has been delivered, and advocates are concerned evictions will rise next week when renters are suddenly on the hook for months, if not a year, of unpaid rent.
Roughly 12.7 million renters told the census in late June and early July that they had no or slight confidence in being able to make next month’s rent payment.