CASH FOR COVID-19 FUNERALS IN STATE

Chuck, AOC announce $260M in aid for low-income families

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez represent different wings of the Democratic Party, but they are on the same page when it comes to funeral benefits for coronavirus victims, especially in communities of color and low-income families.

The lawmakers made a rare joint appearance Monday in Corona, Queens, a neighborhood ravaged by the first wave of the pandemic, to announce $260 million in funeral benefits specifically dedicated for New Yorkers as part of the latest COVID relief package.

“Compounding the injury, once the loved one passes away, many of these families don’t have money for a proper funeral,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “That is just awful and inhumane.”

The money, part of a $2 billion national pot of disaster funds program, will be channeled through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Low-income families must apply for reimbursement of burial costs for loved ones who died of COVID-19.

The leaders were joined by the Hispanic Federation, Voces Latina and the leader of Elmcor Senior Center as they pushed to get the word out on the funds.

Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens, Bronx) recalled the strain funeral costs put on her family after her father died in 2008 and noted COVID hit people who could afford it the least.

“While we were all in the same storm, we were not in the same boat. Some of us were riding very choppy waters,” she said.

“This pandemic was not hitting all of us equally,” she said, speaking in the shadow of the

“Compounding the injury, once the loved one passes away, many of these families don’t have money for a proper funeral ... That is just awful and inhumane.” SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER