美國“驅逐租客禁令”可謂是一波三折，一延再延……

當地時間8月3日，美國疾病控制和預防中心（CDC）釋出宣告說，“驅逐租客禁令”被延長至今年10月3日，相關條例適用於新冠病毒高傳染率的地區。

2020年9月，新冠疫情導致美國2000萬人失業。美國疾控中心因擔心流浪人口的增加會令病毒傳播加快，便下達禁令，禁止房東驅逐拖欠房租的租客。

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention（CDC） issued a new eviction moratorium on Tuesday that the eviction ban will last for 60 days until Oct. 3, and will be targeted at areas of the country experiencing high levels of coronavirus infections.

The CDC ordered the eviction moratorium in September 2020, as the U.S. economy lost more than 20 million jobs amid the pandemic shutdowns. The CDC feared homelessness would boost coronavirus infections.

在美國疾控中心宣佈“驅逐租客禁令”延期前，該禁令已於7月31日午夜到期，大量無力償還房租的租客將面臨流落街頭的窘境。

據美國智庫預算與政策優先中心 （Center on Budget and Policy Priorities）估算，全美有1140萬成年租房者處於欠租狀態。而美國人口普查局資料更令人驚歎，資料顯示，在“驅逐租客禁令”到期後，將有約700萬租客無力償還房租，這意味著每6名租客中就有1人將面臨流落街頭的風險。

此外，在美國國會透過的“美國經濟救助計劃”中，有超過460億美元的資金是用於幫助租客償還房租。然而由於辦公效率低下，政府下撥的救助金僅有極少部分真正落實到租客和房東的手中。據美國財政部公佈的資料顯示，截至今年7月，這筆資金中僅有約30億美元真正下撥到了租客和房東的手中。

Before the CDC announced the extension of the eviction moratorium, which expired at midnight on July 31, a large number of renters who are unable to pay their rent will face a crisis of living on the streets.

An estimated 11.4 million adult renters are behind on rent, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. But even more, impressive data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that about 7 million renters will be unable to pay their rent after the eviction moratorium expires.

The U.S. Congress has appropriated roughly $46 billion for emergency rental aid. However, due to low office efficiency, only a small part of the government's aid is delivered to tenants and landlords. As of July, only about $3 billion of that money had been spent, according to the Treasury Department.

《時代》週刊曾指出，疫情暴露出美國存在的系統性分裂，“民主黨和共和黨不僅在具體問題上無法達成共識，甚至連什麼是基本事實都存在分歧。”

面對這一危機，美國政府各部門依舊在相互推卸責任。當地時間7月29日，美國白宮向國會發出呼籲，稱其應出臺相關政策以再次延長"驅逐租客禁令"。

7月30日，美國國會眾議院民主黨人未能獲得足夠的票數以支援延長“驅逐租客禁令”。

然而，就在數百萬美國民眾面臨無家可歸危機的時刻，美國國會依然按原計劃“準時休假”， 議員們開始享受他們的暑假。

美國有線電視新聞網（CNN）也表示，拜登政府與國會民主黨就此事發生激烈交鋒，暴露了拜登總統和民主黨成員之間罕見的分歧。

In the face of this crisis, the U.S. government continues to pass the buck to each other. The White House on Tuesday called on Congress to approve a one-month extension of a federal moratorium on residential evictions.

However, Democrats in the House of Representatives on July 30 failed to muster enough votes to extend the eviction moratorium.

The back-and-forth exposed a rare divide between President Joe Biden and members of his party and led to veiled accusations of who was to blame, according to CNN.