IRS sent $1.4B in stimulus payments to 1.1M dead people, mostly after Trump called snafus a ‘tiny’ p

[Elderberry]

Dallas News by Todd J. Gillman 6/25/2020

IRS sent $1.4B in stimulus payments to 1.1M dead people, mostly after Trump called snafus a ‘tiny’ problem

Checks to some deceased recipients, including one beloved 93-year-old Dallas woman, were even marked 'decd.'

The government’s fiscal watchdog said Thursday that $1.4 billion in stimulus payments were sent to roughly 1.1 million people who had already died, bypassing IRS procedures put in place seven years to ago to prevent such improper payments.

President Donald Trump had insisted that such snafus were a “tiny” problem after anecdotal reports surfaced early in the coronavirus pandemic.

A congressman reported that a family friend’s late father had received a check. In suburban Dallas, a beloved 93-year-old grandmother’s family chuckled because next to her name, the check even said “decd,” indicating that somewhere in the federal bureaucracy, her demise six months earlier was on the record.

“We sent out 80 million deposits, and less than 1% had even little problems,” Trump said on April 17, downplaying the problem. “A couple had minor glitches, but it’s substantially less than 1%. So out of 80 million deposits, less than 1%. And that gets corrected immediately.”

When a Dallas Morning News reporter pointed out that 1% of 80 million is 800,000 – which would represent nearly $1 billion, at $1,200 per payment – Trump responded: “The snafus are very minor … and any mistake that was made, they’ve been caught. And it’s less than 1%. That’s a very good percentage … for government.”

More: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2020/06/25/irs-sent-14b-in-stimulus-payments-to-11m-dead-people-mostly-after-trump-called-snafus-a-tiny-problem/