Millions of Americans have already received the latest rounds of stimulus checks, but it appears that for a portion of the population there has been a delay in issuing checks and members of Congress want to know why.
Several members of Congress teamed up and sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to express concerns over reported delays in issuing stimulus checks to Social Security beneficiaries.
The members of Congress pointed out that during previous rounds of stimulus payments the IRS worked together with Social Security to ensure that Social Security disability beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries received their payments, but it is not going as smoothly this time around.
This issue is a big concern because both Social Security disability recipients and SSI recipients tend to live on tight budgets as benefits are extremely modest. It is crucial for the IRS to get this figured out and get checks in the hands of the people who need it most and hopefully this additional pressure from members of congress will do the trick.
A press release issued by the members of congress can be found below.
Today, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA), Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John B. Larson (D-CT), Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ), and Worker and Family Support Subcommittee Chairman Danny K. Davis (D-IL) wrote to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) to express their concerns over reported delays in automatically issuing stimulus checks to some of the most vulnerable Americans. In previous rounds of direct payments, IRS and SSA worked together to deliver assistance to Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), and Veterans Affairs (VA) beneficiaries automatically and promptly. There is no excuse for the delay this round, which puts critical assistance on hold for millions of Americans in need.
“The American Rescue Plan was intended to provide much-needed economic stimulus and assistance to people across the country – immediately – and we are counting on your agencies to ensure that beneficiaries are not left behind in the seamless delivery of those payments,” the lawmakers wrote. “However, we were alarmed to learn recently that most Social Security, SSI, RRB, and VA beneficiaries who are not required to file a tax return have not yet received their payments and the IRS is unable to provide an expected timeline for these payments. Some of our most vulnerable seniors and persons with disabilities, including veterans who served our country with honor, are unable to pay for basic necessities while they wait for their overdue payments.”
They went on to emphasize that, “We urge the IRS and SSA to move with all deliberate speed to quickly issue these payments to Social Security and SSI beneficiaries – and we urge the IRS to work with the RRB and VA to pay those beneficiaries expeditiously as well.”
The Chairs requested an update on the distribution timeline by Friday, March 26.
