Carper calls on Treasury Dept. to ensure $500 payments per child in stimulus
Delaware’s U.S. Senator Tom Carper joined a group of 40 Senators in calling on the Treasury Department to ensure that families who are not required to file taxes and will automatically receive their coronavirus (COVID-19) stimulus payment do not need to wait until next year to receive the additional $500 payment per dependent child that they were promised.
“We write to express our concern that without additional action from your agencies, many families who receive Social Security benefits and have young children may not receive the full cash assistance that Congress provided in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act until 2021,” the Senators wrote. “We urge your agencies to ensure that economically vulnerable non-filers receiving Social Security retirement, Social Security disability, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits receive stimulus payments for themselves and their dependent children as quickly as possible – before next year.”
The letter follows the Treasury’s announcement on Monday that families on Social Security who do not file tax returns needed to enter additional information on the IRS website within 48 hours in order to receive the $500 payment per dependent child that they are entitled to, and that if they missed the deadline, they would not receive the additional payment until 2021.
The Treasury’s announcement also indicated that they will soon set a similar deadline for recipients of Supplemental Security Income and certain Department of Veterans Affairs benefits who do not usually file taxes.
To remedy this issue, the Senators wrote to the Treasury Secretary and Social Security Commissioner, stating, “We request that Treasury find another way forward that – without delaying any automatic $1,200 payments – ensures that these Social Security beneficiaries and their children quickly receive the full amount of cash assistance for which they are eligible. We urge your agencies to continue providing access to the Non-Filers tool after non-filers have received their initial automatic stimulus payments, so that these economically vulnerable individuals can request and receive additional payments for dependent children prior to 2021.”
In addition to Senator Carper, the letter was signed by Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA), Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Doug Jones (D-AL), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Tom Udall (D-NM), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Angus S. King, Jr. (I-ME), Gary C. Peters (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Christopher S. Murphy (D-CT), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).
