Families can soon apply for funds to cover COVID funeral costs, Democratic lawmakers say
Families that have lost loved ones to COVID-19 will soon be able to apply for funds to help cover funeral expenses, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced Monday during a news conference in New York.
Two billion dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds were approved in a December COVID-19 relief bill. Each family that provides documentation and receipts from funeral costs, as well as death certificates, can be reimbursed up to $7,000.
So far, the program is retroactive and applies to funerals that took place between Jan. 20, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2020, the New York Democrats said. Schumer said he and Ocasio-Cortez are working on extending the relief until the pandemic ends.
“When you suddenly lose a loved one, you’re talking about an expense of four or five, seven, $10,000,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And then during COVID, with overrun funeral facilities, et cetera, families also are having to deal with having to pay for the storage of the bodies of their own loved ones. This is wrong.”
Schumer said Ocasio-Cortez brought the idea to his attention last April, but several attempts to negotiate with the then Donald Trump-run White House flopped.
“They were cold-hearted,” Schumer recalled, “... We found out that, actually, FEMA could do this on its own.” The agency delivered “special disaster funds” to families with funeral costs following Hurricane Sandy, which battered the upper east coast in 2012, he said.
Ocasio-Cortez also acknowledged concerns felt by immigrant families over fears about applying to the program.
“I think right now our families, especially under a (President Joe) Biden administration, a Democratic Senate and a Democratic House that is prioritizing immigrant rights, including those who are undocumented, [should not] have fear, and not allow that fear to further marginalize our community,” she said.
The application is expected to open “within a couple of months,” according to CBS New York.
This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Families can soon apply for funds to cover COVID funeral costs, Democratic lawmakers say."
