Steil Joins Group of House and Senate Colleagues to Bring Additional Oversight to Economic Impact Payments, Prevent Payments to Deceased Individuals

JANESVILLE, WISCONSIN—Bryan Steil joined eight of his House and Senate colleagues, Republicans and Democrats, to ask the Administration to increase oversight and prevent economic impact payments from being made to deceased individuals. Steil also cosponsored H.R. 2543, the Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act.

"I want to ensure families, workers, and seniors in Southeast Wisconsin receive their economic impact payment as quickly as possible. I am working to help people receive updated information from the IRS regarding these payments. However, we need to prevent fraud and abuse within the program. Republicans and Democrats are working to prevent fraud and help people who may have received an improper payment for a deceased spouse or family member," said Steil.

In part, Steil requests: "We write to raise questions and express concerns with reports that deceased individuals are receiving COVID-19 related economic impact payments. In addition, we write to encourage your departments to take immediate action to prevent these improper CARES Act payments. While it is essential that our constituents receive stimulus payments quickly, these improper payments to deceased individuals represent significant government waste and a burden to constituents who mistakenly accept the payments."

You can read the full letter here.

The nonpartisan Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act increases information sharing between federal agencies. All federal agencies would have access to Social Security Administration (SSA) death data to help check improper payments. This bill also requires SSA to craft a plan for a more complete and accurate database.