(WASHINGTON) — The president took aim Tuesday at local officials, including the governors of Florida and Texas, over laws that prevented public health measures in the wake of surging COVID-19 cases.

“I say to these governors: please help, but you aren’t going to help at least get out of the way,” President Joe Biden said. “The people are trying to do the right thing. Use your power to save lives.”

Biden called out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, states which Biden said account for one-third of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

“And worst of all, some state officials are passing laws or signing orders that forbid people from doing the right thing. As of now, seven states not only banned mask mandates, but also banned them in their school districts, even for young children who cannot get vaccinated,” Biden said.

Abbott issued an executive order on Thursday that banned mask mandates and other operating mandates in Texas.

“They have the individual right and responsibility to decide for themselves and their children whether they will wear masks, open their businesses, and engage in leisure activities,” Abbott said in a statement about the order Thursday. “Vaccines, which remain in abundant supply, are the most effective defense against the virus, and they will always remain voluntary — never forced — in the State of Texas.”

DeSantis has stuck to a long-time promise not to impose a mask mandate in Florida. Both states have also moved to ban institutions from requiring vaccinations.

In response to a question from a reporter, Biden criticized the measures as “bad” policy. This comes as the two states see surges in cases and hospitalizations.

“I believe the results of their decisions are not good for their constituents,” Biden said. “And it’s clear to me, and to most medical experts, that the decisions being made, like not allowing mask mandates in school and the like, are bad health policy.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki had a similar sentiment during a press briefing earlier Tuesday, calling out “extreme” measures.

“In fact, the most extreme of these measures is in Texas where … a professor or teacher can be fined if they ask a student if they are vaccinated or if they ask unvaccinated students to wear masks. And I think the fundamental question we have is: What are we doing here?”

Psaki noted the need for unity in the fight against the virus, and even praised most Republican governments who she said are “doing exactly the right thing … and taking steps to advocate for more people to get vaccinated.”

“But if you aren’t going to help, if you aren’t going to abide by public health guidance, then get out of the way and let people do the right thing to lead in their communities, whether they are teachers, university leaders, private sector leaders or others who are trying to save lives,” Psaki said.

Psaki also highlighted that the White House has extended offers of federal support to the two hard-hit states.

“Teams from (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and (Health and Human Services) are in contact with Florida officials to offer technical assistance and support,” Psaki said. “We’re also engaged with the governor’s office in Texas and the state health department to discuss the state of the pandemic there and how we can offer specific assistance, as well as Louisiana.”

Asked by a reporter whether the states had accepted the federal support, Psaki said that it is a “discussion,” and said that they are talking to the states about how the government “can provide additional assistance.”

ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Amid pressure from progressive Democrats who have called on the White House to extend the eviction moratorium, and as millions of Americans are at risk this week of being forces to leave their homes, President Joe Biden on Tuesday said his administration would announce a possible new “safety valve” action to limit evictions later in the day.

He told reporters the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would provide details of what he he hoped would be a “new moratorium” that would cover about 90% of renters, although he quickly added, “I didn’t tell them what they had to do.”

The proposed CDC plan would remain in place for 60 days, congressional sources told ABC News.

At the same time, Biden said that he isn’t sure if the new moratorium effort would pass constitutional muster and expects legal challenges, but he said that some scholars he consulted think “it’s worth the effort.”

“I’ve sought out constitutional scholars to determine what is the best possibility that would come from executive action of the CDC’s judgment. What could they do that was most likely to pass muster, constitutionally? The bulk of the constitutional scholarship says that it’s not likely to pass constitutional muster, number one. But there are several key scholars who think that it may and it’s worth the effort,” he said.

Biden said “at a minimum” that by the time this works its way through the courts, some of the funds will be able to reach renters who are struggling.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement after Biden spoke saying a new CDC eviction moratorium would be “tied to Covid infection levels.”

“Today is a day of extraordinary relief. Thanks to the leadership of President Biden, the imminent fear of eviction and being put out on the street has been lifted for countless families across America. Help is Here!” her statement read.

The move comes after Pelosi told the Democratic caucus on a call Tuesday morning that the chamber is not returning to Washington to deal with the lapsed eviction moratorium legislatively and as lawmakers have amped up pressure on the Biden administration to expedite distributing congressionally-allocated funds to help with rental assistance amid the public health emergency.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen joined the Democratic caucus call Tuesday morning to talk about the distribution of nearly $46.5 billion in congressionally approved rental assistance through states and local governments, of which only $3 billion has been distributed. Yellen fielded questions from the caucus about the delays as Democrats continued to push for getting the funds out more quickly.

It is not entirely clear what more the Treasury Department can do to accelerate distributing the money, but it is clear progressive Democrats are livid that action wasn’t taken sooner — with Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., leading the charge and continuing to rally on the Capitol steps Tuesday for a fifth day.

Bush has been camping out on the Capitol steps

Before Biden spoke, Bush spoke to reporters on the Capitol steps Tuesday afternoon, again calling on Congress and the White House to extend the eviction moratorium.

“We want the White House to end this eviction moratorium,” Bush told reporters.

When word of a new plan surfaced, she tweeted, “On Friday night, I came to the Capitol with my chair. I refused to accept that Congress could leave for vacation while 11 million people faced eviction. For 5 days, we’ve been out here, demanding that our government acts to save lives. Today, our movement moved mountains.”

Fellow progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joined Bush in immediately reacting to the news the administration was expected to take more steps with Ocasio-Cortez saying the news on evictions shows that “it is okay for us to say: ‘We can do better.'”

Bush said, “This is why this happened,” referring to her sit-in. “Being unapologetic. Being unafraid to stand up.” Schumer also praised the progressive Democrats for putting in the hard work.

At the same time, neither the Senate’s Democratic leader nor the Republican leader suggested that the upper chamber will or should take any immediate action to address the problem after the House failed to extend the moratorium before adjourning for its recess.

GOP Leader Mitch McConnell argued in his weekly press conference that the funds to help struggling renters have already been sent to states and that it’s now their responsibility to disburse those funds to struggling renters.

“It looks like the money is there,” McConnell said, referring to state governments. “It doesn’t seem to meet or require any additional legislative action they need to get the money out there that has already been made available so it can solve the problem.”

Schumer said the Senate is focused on urging the administration and states and localities to extend moratoriums and urging states to disburse rent relief funds.

The Biden administration had announced Monday a series of new measures to prevent evictions — but they fell short of the full extension Democrats pushed for, with White House officials continuing to argue they’re constrained from doing more by a Supreme Court ruling that said Congress must act to extend a moratorium.

Pelosi and House Democrats were caught flat-footed and left frustrated at the lack of involvement from the White House on the issue just days before the moratorium expired.

Bush said that her experience with homelessness gives her an incredibly unique insight into this devastating situation — when families are booted from their homes and potentially forced to live on the streets.

She was joined by other Democratic lawmakers, including Texas Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green, who said even though Congress is not in town, they will continue to work on drafting legislation.

Bush said that Pelosi has been “supportive” and “communicative” with her as she continues to protest on the Capitol steps.

She also told reporters about her conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday.

“I wanted her to look me in my eyes and I wanted to look in hers, but I wanted her to see down to my soul what pain looks like,” Bush said. “That is not far from me at all, the days that I’ve been out in the car on the street moving the vehicle around the city of St Louis hoping that the police didn’t come because we were sitting in the car.”

“I remember those moments with my babies crying in the car. And I remember what that was like and not having a place to go,” Bush recalled.

Bush did not indicate how many more days she will spend sleeping on the Capitol steps. Green vowed to join her on the steps later Tuesday.

“I don’t know what the end date is,” Bush said. “Change has to happen for us to leave.”

ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks, Katherine Faulders, Molly Nagle, Allison Pecorin and Libby Cathey contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and a growing number of New York lawmakers are calling for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign after the state’s attorney general said he was found to have sexually harassed multiple women.

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday announced the results of her office’s four-month probe into the allegations, saying current and former state employees were among the women Cuomo sexually harassed. In at least one instance, the governor is accused of seeking to retaliate against a woman who leveled accusations against him.

Cuomo has previously denied the sexual misconduct allegations, saying in March that he would not resign despite mounting calls and new accusations. He bashed politicians who were already calling for him to leave office at the time, accusing them of bowing to “cancel culture.”

In the wake of James’ investigation, a slew of state and local lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in New York are renewing their calls for the governor to step down.

Biden on Tuesday afternoon called on Cuomo to resign, but stopped short of calling for impeachment.

“I think he should resign,” the president said during unrelated remarks about COVID-19. “I understand that the state legislature may decide to impeach. I don’t know that for fact, I’ve not read all that data.”

The president said he had not spoken to the governor Tuesday, but he had previously told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that Cuomo should resign if the allegations were confirmed.

When asked if Cuomo should be impeached or removed from office if he does not resign, Biden said, “Let’s take one thing at a time.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., reiterated their past calls for Cuomo to resign in a new statement Tuesday.

“The New York State Attorney General has conducted an independent, thorough and professional investigation that found the Governor violated state and federal law, had a pattern of sexually harassing current and former employees, retaliated against at least one of the accusers and created a hostile work environment,” the senators said.

“No elected official is above the law,” Schumer and Gillibrand added. “The people of New York deserve better leadership in the governor’s office. We continue to believe that the Governor should resign.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said it is “beyond clear” that Cuomo can no longer serve as governor in a statement Tuesday.

“It is beyond clear that Andrew Cuomo is not fit to hold office and can no longer serve as Governor,” de Blasio said. “He must resign, and if he continues to resist and attack the investigators who did their jobs, he should be impeached immediately.”

The mayor also commended the women who came forward and lauded the attorney general’s report that he said substantiates these “disturbing instances of severe misconduct.”

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, also called for resignation or impeachment.

“Attorney General James conducted a thorough and revealing investigation that yielded disturbing conclusions about the conduct of Governor Cuomo,” Adams said. “It is now the duty of the New York State Assembly to take swift and appropriate action and move forward with impeachment proceedings if the Governor will not resign.”

In a joint statement Tuesday, Reps. Tom Suozzi, Hakeem Jeffries and Gregory Meeks — three Democratic New York lawmakers who had previously not called on Cuomo to resign — reversed course.

“The office of Attorney General Tish James conducted a complete, thorough and professional investigation of the disturbing allegations against Governor Andrew Cuomo. The investigation has found that the Governor engaged in abusive behavior toward women, including subordinates, created a hostile work environment and violated state and federal law,” the congressmen stated. “We commend the brave women who came forward and spoke truth to power. The time has come for Governor Andrew Cuomo to do the right thing for the people of New York State and resign.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., commended the women who came forward “to speak their truth” in a statement Tuesday.

“Recognizing his love of New York and the respect for the office he holds, I call upon the Governor to resign,” Pelosi added.

New York state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat, similarly for Cuomo to be out in a statement Tuesday.

“This report highlights​ unacceptable behavior by Governor Cuomo and his administration. As I said, when these disturbing allegations first came to light, the Governor must resign for the good of the state,” Stewart-Cousins said. “Now that the investigation is complete and the allegations have been substantiated, it should be clear to everyone that he can no longer serve as Governor.”

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, also a Democrat, said in a separate statement that the governor “must step aside or be removed.”

“These damning findings from Attorney General James, who has done a great job, show quite clearly that the governor must resign — and if he will not, that he should be impeached,” Kaminsky, a former federal prosecutor, added. “Not only has Gov. Cuomo broken the law by committing disturbing and dehumanizing acts against women, he has engaged in retaliation against his accusers, and also abused his power as an employer, boss, and the leader of New York and most powerful person in this state.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican representing New York’s 21st district, called on Cuomo to “resign and be arrested immediately” and urged President Joe Biden to “immediately call for Cuomo’s resignation.”

On the other side of the aisle, the progressive New York Working Families Party also called for Cuomo’s resignation, tweeting, “The facts are clear. Andrew Cuomo is unfit to lead and must resign or be removed from office.”

New York Assemblyman Ron Kim, a vocal critic of Cuomo’s pandemic nursing homes scandal, said the governor “must be removed from office immediately.”

“There are no platinum band-aids left to cover up the fact that this governor continues to abuse his office to benefit himself and those around him,” Kim stated. “New Yorkers have had enough. We must return to session immediately and begin the impeachment proceedings.”

Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for New York City comptroller and a city council member, said in a tweet that Cuomo “should have resigned in March.”

“He should resign now. If he does not, he should be impeached,” Lander added. “If he is not, he should be defeated at the polls.”

Finally, in a statement via Twitter, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said simply: “The Attorney General’s findings are clear. The Governor must resign immediately.”

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