Md. Lawmakers Call For Families Who Qualify To Receive Additional COVID-19 Stimulus Payment As Soon As Possible

WASHINGTON (WJZ) — U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen joined other lawmakers in calling on the U.S. Treasury Department to ensure families who qualify receive their additional COVID-19 stimulus payment.

Under the CARES Act, families that are not required to file taxes will receive an additional $500 payment per dependent child.

In their letter, the lawmakers said, in part:

“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. 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 Monday that families on Social Security who do not file tax returns needed to enter additional information on the IRS website within 48 hours to receive the payment and if they missed the deadline, they would not receive the additional payment until 2021.

CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:

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, according to the Senators.

Senators Cardin and Van Hollen have previously joined calls to ensure that Social Security and Supplemental Security Income and VA beneficiaries who do not normally file taxes could receive their payments automatically.

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