House Democrats had given the Social Security Administration a 24-hour deadline to provide the IRS with necessary payment information.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Following a 24-hour ultimatum from Democratic lawmakers, the Social Security Administration provided information to the Internal Revenue Service on Thursday that will help more Americans get stimulus payments.
Nearly 30 million Social Security and Supplemental Security income beneficiaries were kept waiting on stimulus payments because, House Democrats said, the SSA hadn't provided the Internal Revenue Service with necessary payment files for them.
On Wednesday, the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Richard Neal, and the chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee, Bill Pascrell, Jr., sent a letter to the SSA requesting that information be sent over right away. "We are giving the trump-appointed heads of the Social Security Admin **24 Hours** to get off their backsides and stop delaying sending stimulus checks to 30,000,000 Americans," Pascrell said on Twitter on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the SSA transferred the necessary files to the IRS, making it possible for the affected Americans to get the $1,400 stimulus checks that many others have already received.
-Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) March 25, 2021
"The delays imposed by Commissioner Saul defied congressional intent and imposed needless anxiety and pain on taxpayers," the Democrats said in a statement on Thursday. "Now the IRS needs to do its job and get these overdue payments out to suffering Americans. Further delays will not be tolerated by this committee."
Rep. John Larson of Connecticut and Rep. Danny Davis of Illinois had joined Neal and Pascrell in calling for action from the SSA and IRS.
Since President Joe Biden's stimulus bill was signed into law, Americans across the country have encountered delays in receiving stimulus aid. Due to December and March stimulus changes, the IRS was behind in processing nearly 7 million tax returns, and customers of major online tax preparers, such as TurboTax and H&R Block, faced delays on the $10,200 tax break on unemployment benefits received during the pandemic.
As a result of the delays, along with calls from lawmakers, the IRS extended tax filing season to May 17, which Neal and Pascrell said would lift the "titanic strain" on taxpayers.
The Treasury Department, IRS, and Bureau of Fiscal Service announced on Wednesday that 127 million of the $1,400 stimulus checks have been sent out to date.
