Band members turn Capitol Hill into a homeless camp

[ad_1]

“Squad” lawmakers were criticized Saturday for turning Washington, D.C., into “Hoverville” by sleeping on the pristine marble steps of the Capitol in a timed stunt until a national evacuation order expires.

The far-left Democrats — Missouri Rep. Corey Bush, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — camped outside the historic building on Friday night and vowed to keep sleeping through Sunday.

“We slept in the Capitol last night asking them to come back and do their jobs. Today is their last chance. We’re still here,” Bush tweeted Saturday alongside photos of her and her staff wearing hoods and blankets.

“Tonight went better than it looked tonight for someone who wasn’t already housed,” Bush told reporters from her orange sleeping bag on Saturday morning. “We need powers that have to understand that we are not going to let this pass quietly.”

Representative Cory Bush speaks with her supporters as she spends the night outside the US Capitol to demand an extension of the federal eviction moratorium on July 31, 2021. Joshua Roberts / Getty Images

Pictures of Lilham sleeping in the open show the legislators completely surrounded by piles of rubbish, including discarded Domino’s pizza boxes. Piles of chips, crackers, and other junk food were ready to keep.

Bush and Presley went down to sleep at about 5 a.m., as the staff stretched out on the stairs and the stone courtyard around them.

Meanwhile, Staten Island Councilman Joe Borrelli ridiculed the show as an awakened “Hooverville” — conjuring up images of the shantytowns of the Great Depression created by the avalanche during the administration of President Herbert Hoover.

Representatives Corey Bush, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar all camped outside the Capitol

“The Capitol looks like nowhere else in the United States where the far left is taking over,” Borrelli said.

Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for mayor in New York City, added that “band camp” reminded him of Penn Station.

“The only thing that wasn’t there was marshmallows around an open fire,” he said sarcastically.

One glaring absence from the dream was the New York deputy, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The band’s supporter published a video clip on Friday evening, in which she offered words of encouragement and support.

The group protested the end of the federal eviction order. Twitter

“Everyone knew this was coming,” the AOC said in the clip, clapping her hands for confirmation. “We have members within our congregation threatening to go on vacation” rather than extending eviction protection. She did not respond to The Post’s inquiries about where she spent the rest of the night.

Omar, too, criticized her caucus, and criticized Democrats for skipping town.

“Some of our fellow Democrats decided it was more important for them to go on their summer vacation than to protect the thousands and millions of people who would eventually face eviction,” she told reporters.

After spending the night outside the Capitol with Presley and Omar, Bush and others stayed on the steps of the Capitol. Rod Lamke Jr./New York Post

The temporary ban on evictions, imposed last year as a pandemic mitigation measure by President Trump, was due to expire on July 31 as a result of last month’s Supreme Court ruling.

Instead, President Biden, who took no action to extend it, asked Congress to speed up a bill to solve the problem and called on states to enact their own relief measures.

An eviction ban protects about 6.2 million tenants, according to a recent Harvard University housing report. And another 2.3 million homeowners have defaulted on their mortgage payments.

Curtis Sliwa said the camp outside the Capitol reminded him of Penn Station. Twitter

But some Republicans say it is time to return to normal.

“America’s employers can’t fill 9.2 million record jobs because the government is paying people more unemployment to stay home,” Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) told The Post.

“Why don’t they pay their rent?” She asked.

President Biden asked Congress for more relief rather than any executive order.

She noted that “the small owners have not received an income in over a year, yet they are expected to pay property taxes, mortgage and water bills.”

A House Republican aide agreed.

“The band should encourage people to take on one of the millions of jobs available so they can pay their rent rather than standing up for the right to self-employment,” the insider said.

.

[ad_2]