Lawmakers Urge IRS to Get Moving on Stimulus Checks for Social Security Recipients

The Ascent reports that U.S. lawmakers are calling on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to improve its efforts to get stimulus checks to Social Security recipients in a timely manner, following President Biden's signing of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill into law. The IRS can only issue a limited number of physical checks at a time, and while the first round had about 90 million payments sent out, only 150,000 were distributed as physical checks. Since many on Social Security are retired and do not have to file an income tax return, the IRS may not have bank account details on file for numerous seniors. In a Monday letter, congressional Democrats urged the agency to expedite payments, arguing that seniors are financially vulnerable and cannot afford prolonged delays. They are asking the IRS to commit to a solid delivery timeline by the end of the week, so that recipients at least know what to expect.