More than 1 million stimulus payments totaling nearly $1.4 billion were sent to deceased Americans during the federal government's unprecedented emergency spending in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to mailing checks to some dead people, the GAO found that federal agencies-like the Small Business Administration, which was tasked with processing more than $600 billion in payments to businesses forced to close by the pandemic-struggled to handle the massive surge in spending.
As of May 31, the Treasury Department had issued more than 160 million payments worth $269.3 billion via paper checks, prepaid debit cards, and direct deposits to bank accounts.
Congress should allow the BFS to have access to that data if another round of stimulus payments are sent, the GAO suggests.
Officially, the IRS says that any payment made to a dead person must be returned, but the GAO notes that "The IRS does not currently plan to take additional steps to notify ineligible recipients on how to return payments."
The Paycheck Protection Program backed more than 4.6 million loans totaling over $500 billion, but the GAO found that many borrowers were not given proper guidance on how the loans would operate, including what rules would make a business eligible for loan forgiveness once the pandemic had passed.
Fast-tracking the direct payments and other aspects of the coronavirus response might have caused money to be wasted, but other reports indicate that the stimulus package accomplished its goal.
In addition to mailing checks to some dead people, the GAO found that federal agencies-like the Small Business Administration, which was tasked with processing more than $600 billion in payments to businesses forced to close by the pandemic-struggled to handle the massive surge in spending.
As of May 31, the Treasury Department had issued more than 160 million payments worth $269.3 billion via paper checks, prepaid debit cards, and direct deposits to bank accounts.
Congress should allow the BFS to have access to that data if another round of stimulus payments are sent, the GAO suggests.
Officially, the IRS says that any payment made to a dead person must be returned, but the GAO notes that "The IRS does not currently plan to take additional steps to notify ineligible recipients on how to return payments."
The Paycheck Protection Program backed more than 4.6 million loans totaling over $500 billion, but the GAO found that many borrowers were not given proper guidance on how the loans would operate, including what rules would make a business eligible for loan forgiveness once the pandemic had passed.
Fast-tracking the direct payments and other aspects of the coronavirus response might have caused money to be wasted, but other reports indicate that the stimulus package accomplished its goal.
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