OVERDUE PAYMENTS

Many Pennsylvanians still struggling to access $1,200 federal checks, Lamb and Doyle say

WASHINGTON — Many Pennsylvanians are still struggling to access their $1,200 pandemic checks and have struggled to get answers from federal officials, Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, and other Democratic lawmakers from Pennsylvania wrote to the Treasury Department on Wednesday.

Mr. Lamb — joined by Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, and five representatives from the eastern part of the state — said their offices had fielded complaints from constituents regarding technical glitches and delays

in processing tax returns that would allow the payments to be issued.

The letter highlighted a lingering challenge of the $2.3 trillion economic rescue package passed by Congress in March as the COVID-19 pandemic roiled the economy. While the lawmakers acknowledged the checks, officially called Economic Impact Payments, had largely reached their intended recipients, the department’s system had failed many.

The lawmakers cited problems such as the Internal Revenue Service portal blocking people from updating their information and filing issues, including seniors being mischaracterized as dependents on another tax return and thus rendered ineligible for EIPs.

The department has suggested some payments could stretch into next year, which, the lawmakers wrote, “denies the necessary assistance for many Americans for far too long.”

“Compounding their frustrations is the lack of adequate response and service: multiple calls to the various designated EIP-related phone lines go unanswered while emails receive no response,” the lawmakers wrote.

“Many then turn to our offices,” they added, “where caseworkers have repeatedly reached out and also received no response.”

The letter asked for more information from the Treasury Department and the IRS on five questions, including: when the department planned to finish handing out all the checks; any barriers the IRS faces in answering inquiries; and how the department can increase response rates and expedite payments.

“These issues require prompt solutions,” the lawmakers wrote.

A Treasury Department spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment on the concerns raised in the letter. Mr. Lamb’s office also did not return a request for comment.