Thursday, April 2, 2020
Trump Throws Up 'Outrageous' Roadblock for Seniors, People With Disabilities in Need of $1,200 Relief Checks
"The Trump administration is throwing up an unnecessary barrier that will make it harder for seniors, people with disabilities, and veterans to get the payments they desperately need."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/01/trump-throws-outrageous-roadblock-seniors-people-disabilities-need-1200-relief
As millions of Americans await the $1,200 cash payments authorized by the latest coronavirus stimulus package, experts and progressive advocates are condemning a move by the Trump administration which would force millions of seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities to jump through unnecessary hoops to receive money they are entitled to under law.
The Internal Revenue Service issued guidance earlier this week announcing that people who do not typically file a tax return—a group that includes millions of Social Security recipients and low-income Americans—"will need to file a simple tax return to receive an economic impact payment."
"Instead, the Trump administration is throwing up an unnecessary barrier that will make it harder for seniors, people with disabilities, and veterans to get the payments they desperately need," said Altman. "In the middle of a pandemic to which they are most vulnerable, the groups can't afford any delay.""This is outrageous," Nancy Altman, president of advocacy group Social Security Works, said in a statement on the policy Wednesday. "The $1200 payments could easily be added automatically to the benefits these people already receive every month."
Altman noted that the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act explicitly gives the Treasury Department authority to use Social Security Administration (SSA) data already on file to distribute the one-time payments to those who did not file a tax return in 2018 or 2019.
Chuck Marr, senior director of federal tax policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, urged the Treasury Department to "aggressively use that authority" to ensure that seniors and other vulnerable people don't fall through the cracks.
"Requiring seniors and people with disabilities who receive Form SSA-1099 (the annual Social Security benefit statement) to file a tax return is unnecessary," Marr wrote in a blog post Tuesday. "The federal government already has all of the information it needs... Likely more than 15 million Social Security recipients who currently don't file tax returns and aren't otherwise required to do so would have to file if Treasury doesn't use its authority to get those people payments automatically."
HuffPost's Arthur Delaney reported Tuesday that what the IRS described as a "simple tax return" is anything but simple to actually file, particularly at a time when volunteer tax clinics that help Americans navigate the process are closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
As Delaney wrote:
Theoretically, any low-income household should be able to file its taxes online for free (here is the IRS.gov page with links to approved free services). But new filers trying to get rebate payments through the free online process may have some problems.
One person in Indiana, who said their only income is disability benefits, said the free online tax software wouldn't allow them to file online or enter bank account information. The person, who requested anonymity, had received too little in disability benefits to owe federal tax, and because they had no earned income, wouldn't receive a normal refund, so the filing software said they weren't eligible to file online.
I created a TurboTax account and tried to make a dummy return for a single person with no earned income. The software said that because my Form 1040 would have zeroes on lines for income, tax, credits, and payments, that my federal return was "ineligible for e-filing, according to IRS rules."
After publishing his story, Delaney tweeted that he received "a dozen emails overnight from seniors on Social Security unable to file taxes online because the tax prep software won't let them, apparently due to their lack of earned income and tax liability."
"This is a problem!" Delaney said.
House Democrats said they have heard similar complaints from their constituents.
In a statement Tuesday in the wake of the IRS guidance, House Ways and Means chairman Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said he and other Democrats in Congress "have been inundated with calls from concerned senior citizens regarding their ability to receive the economic impact payments Congress included in the CARES Act."
"Crucial filing resources, like Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE), are not available to provide assistance due to the COVID-19 crisis," said Neal. "My colleagues and I strongly urge Treasury Secretary [Steve] Mnuchin and Social Security Administrator [Andrew] Saul to find a solution that will allow vulnerable groups to receive these funds automatically, without needing to file an additional return."
Millions of Americans without direct deposit information on file with the IRS could face months of delays in receiving their payments, House Democratic aides have warned.Mnuchin said a Sunday morning appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" that Americans with direct deposit information on file with the IRS can expect to receive their one-time payments automatically "within three weeks," but the Washington Post reported Wednesday that "technical glitches and mismanagement" could disrupt that timeline.
The cash payments are phased out for Americans with higher incomes; individuals earning up to $75,000 a year are eligible for the maximum amount of $1,200.
Altman of Social Security Works said that to ensure that everyone who is eligible receives their payment, the Trump administration must roll back its requirement that many seniors and other vulnerable Americans file a return.
"Millions of people who need these payments won't get them [if the policy remains in place]," Altman said. "At best, the payments will be delayed—even though the federal government pays these people benefits right now, each and every month."
"The Trump administration must reverse course immediately and make a clear public statement that all Social Security beneficiaries, SSI recipients, and veterans receiving pensions will get their $1200 payments without filing a tax return," said Altman. "And then the government should pay—without delay—what it owes."
Medicare for All Support Surges to 9-Month High in New Poll After Coronavirus Exposes Horrors of Private Insurance
"How can it be that we spend 18% of our GDP on healthcare but still lack the beds, masks, ventilators, gowns, gloves, and test kits we need to adequately respond to this crisis?" asked Sen. Bernie Sanders.
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/01/medicare-all-support-surges-9-month-high-new-poll-after-coronavirus-exposes-horrors
Support for Medicare for All among U.S. voters has reached a nine-month high in a Morning Consult/Politico tracking poll as the deadly and ongoing coronavirus pandemic lays bare the horrors and systemic inefficiencies of America's profit-driven healthcare system.
The survey (pdf), released Wednesday, found that 55 percent of U.S. voters support Medicare for All, a nine-point jump since February. While support for Medicare for All is highest among Democratic voters at 75%, a majority of Independents—52%—also support the policy, along with 31% of Republicans.
"We must transform our dysfunctional healthcare system."
—Sen. Bernie Sanders
Morning Consult's Yusra Murad wrote that the poll, conducted between March 27-29, "suggests progressive lawmakers may have an opportunity to sway key demographics—support for Medicare for All grew among people in the $50,000-$100,000 income bracket, voters between 45 and 54 years old, and black voters by roughly 10 points each."
"With the discussion of enacting a universal healthcare system in the United States intensifying, 43 percent of voters say they are more likely to support reforms to grant all Americans health insurance from the government because of the coronavirus outbreak," Murad noted. "Notably, that support does not include the frontrunner in the Democratic presidential primary election—former Vice President Joe Biden."
As Common Dreams reported, Biden on Monday doubled down on his opposition to Medicare for All, telling MSNBC that single-payer healthcare would "not solve" the coronavirus crisis.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Biden's only remaining opponent in the Democratic presidential primary race, has repeatedly argued in recent weeks—alongside many other experts and advocates—that the coronavirus outbreak and the resulting economic meltdown bolsters the case for Medicare for All, the Vermont senator's signature policy proposal.
Sanders' Medicare for All plan would provide everyone in the U.S. with comprehensive healthcare for free at the point of service and virtually eliminate the private insurance system which has left 80 million Americans uninsured or underinsured—a number that is rising rapidly as millions lose their jobs due to the coronavirus outbreak.
"How can it be that we spend 18% of our [gross domestic product] on healthcare—more than any other major country on Earth—but still lack the beds, masks, ventilators, gowns, gloves, and test kits we need to adequately respond to this crisis?" Sanders asked in a tweet on Wednesday.
"We must transform our dysfunctional healthcare system," said Sanders.
Bolsonaro ignored by state governors amid anger at handling of Covid-19 crisis
Dom Phillips. The Guardian. April 1, 2020
Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro is facing a growing backlash over his handling of the coronavirus crisis, with the state governors responsible for more than 200 million of the country’s 210 million people refusing to follow his commands over the pandemic.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly played down the dangers of Covid-19 and last week urged Brazilians to get back to work – in defiance of advice from the World Health Organization and his own health ministry.
But his exhortations have been largely ignored by politicians and the general public.
Just three of Brazil’s 27 states, home to 5.7 million people, have relaxed social isolation measures as coronavirus cases continue to rise – Brazil has 5,717 confirmed cases and 201 deaths. A study showed almost 60% of Brazilians are staying at home.
João Doria, the governor of Brazil’s most populous and economically important state, São Paulo, has maintained a strict quarantine and this week openly defied Bolsonaro, telling its 44 million citizens: “Do not follow the guidance of the president.”
Wilson Witzel, Rio de Janeiro state’s rightwing governor, has also refused to back away from strict social isolation measures.
“So far I’ve been asking, now I am giving an order: don’t leave your home,” Witzel told his state’s 17 million residents on Monday as he extended Rio’s shut down for another fortnight.
Witzel, a one-time Bolsonaro ally, went on to suggest the president’s behaviour could land him a trial at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
Only the rightwing governors of the Amazon states of Rondônia and Roraima, both Bolsonaro allies, have followed the president’s lead by relaxing restrictions on shops and businesses. In Roraima’s capital Boa Vista and Rondônia’s capital Porto Velho many – but not all - shops are open and there are people on the streets. In Mato Grosso shops have also partially re-opened.
Ciro Gomes, a prominent leftwing politician from north-eastern Brazil, told the Guardian that in order to save thousands of lives, the country now needed – and was starting to witness – “an extensive campaign of civil disobedience initiated by governors, mayors, the overwhelming majority of religious leaders and the media”.
Gomes admitted the loss of many lives was now inevitable – but such a mutiny against Bolsonaro could help lessen the scale of the tragedy and represented “an act of protection for the Brazilian people”.
Bolsonaro has described coronavirus as a “little flu” and claimed his athletic background would protect him from it. “You have to face it like a soldier on the battlefield,” he told Rede TV on Monday. The previous day he told reporters: “We’ll all die one day.”
The president has argued the damage caused by shutting down Brazil’s economy will be worse than that caused by the virus, and has also suggested state governors were inflating the numbers of coronavirus victims to justify restrictive lockdown measures.
But as well as facing a rebellion from regional chiefs, Bolsonaro now also appears increasingly isolated from his own cabinet.
At a press conference with other ministers on Monday, Bolsonaro’s health minister Luiz Mandetta called on people to follow state governments and maintain the “the maximum degree of social isolation” – a day after the president mingled with people on the streets of Brasília and said he was considering a decree to let them go back to work.
On Tuesday the Folha de São Paulo newspaper reported that justice minister Sérgio Moro, finance minister Paulo Guedes, Mandetta and military officers in the government had formed a block opposing the president’s stance.
“Bolsonaro has put himself into self-isolation,” said José Álvaro Moisés, a professor of political science at the University of São Paulo.
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