Sooo… according to a new report released to Congress on Thursday, the government sent $1.4 billion in stimulus checks to over one million deceased Americans.
The absolutely asinine faux pas was found by the Government Accountability Office, an independent nonpartisan congressional agency proving the roll out of the 160 million payments was a total clusterf—k!
Congress passed the massive $2 trillion stimulus package, known as the CARES Act, in March in an effort to assist Americans who suffered a severe economic blow due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Via NBC News:
GAO’s report said Treasury officials said that, to meet the CARES Act’s mandate to deliver payments as “rapidly as possible,” Treasury and the IRS sent out the first three batches of payments using previous operational policies and procedures for stimulus payments “which did not include using [Social Security Administration] death records as a filter to halt payments to decedents.”
GAO also reported that IRS’ legal counsel had “determined that the IRS did not have the legal authority to deny payments to those who filed a return for 2019, even if they were deceased at the time of payment,” and had advised applying the same rules to recipients who had filed a 2018 return.
There was so much confusion surrounding the CARES Act from eligibility to folks scrambling and stressing over updating their home addresses and payment information.
There are many Americans who are still trying to get their stimulus check.
What a slap in the face it is to learn over a billion dollars went to the deceased.
45 recently said he is open to another round of “very generous” stimulus payments. (See also: bribe voters.)
If it happens, I sure hope they do a better job of making sure the Americans who are alive and kicking actually receive their payments.
