Thomas Massie: 'Eviction Moratorium' is the 'most socialist action our government has taken in decades'

FEE’s Brad Polumbo explains why the COVID-era ban on evictions is so economically damaging:

"The so-called 'eviction moratorium' in question was initially implemented by Congress in March 2020 and then drastically, unilaterally expanded by the Centers for Disease Control in September 2020... It made tenants below a certain income threshold immune from eviction even if they did not pay their rent, so long as they provided written notice and cited certain excuses. Landlords who violate the moratorium were threatened with fines of up to $100,000 and jail time. They were, however, still allowed to evict tenants under a narrow set of circumstances, such as tenants who engaged in criminal activity or endangered public safety.

After the Biden administration took control in January 2021, it once again extended the supposedly 'temporary' nationwide dictate. The moratorium is supposed to lapse on Saturday, July 31. Yet Washington politicians are again mobilizing to renew the order.

President Biden has called on Congress to pass legislation expanding it, after the Supreme Court suggested that it cannot be renewed unilaterally. Meanwhile, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has said that 'extending the eviction moratorium is a moral imperative...'

“[The government] does not have the authority to do this,” @RandPaul said. “It's a dangerous precedent and bad policy.” https://t.co/aQLhOWk3NH

— FEE (@feeonline) August 2, 2021

But despite politicians’ lofty rhetoric, renewing this drastic measure would be an enormous mistake.

For one, the so-called moratorium was always a constitutionally suspect power-grab. Just think about this: The director of the CDC, an unelected bureaucrat, cited one vague law to unilaterally issue a mandate essentially seizing millions of landlords’ properties and subjecting those properties to unpaid occupation.

It’s as if the CDC ruled that anyone could go to a grocery store, fill up their cart, and walk out without paying. It effectively canceled peoples’ contracts and seized their property...

'CDC inserting itself into private rental contracts, effectively transferring control of private property from the lawful owner to the renter, is possibly the most socialist action our government has taken in decades... and without an act of Congress!' Congressman Thomas Massie lamented on Twitter. 'Rental contracts are governed by state law. There is no federal authority to overturn them. The CDC order is an affront to the rule of law.'

'CDC does not have the authority to do this,' Senator Rand Paul similarly wrote at the time. 'It's dangerous precedent and bad policy.'