Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked Federal Emergency Management Agency to consider giving federal aid to families conducting funerals because of coronavirus deaths.
The two New York Democrats wrote a letter to Peter Gaynor, FEMA’s administrator, and thanked him for the administration’s efforts in the state. Schumer and Ocasio-Cortez noted that the significant death toll hit at a time when many lost their jobs because of coronavirus-related shutdowns. The lawmakers explained that many families are struggling to pay for funerals during the pandemic.
“As the tragic number of deaths from COVID-19 continues to rise in New York, individuals who are facing incredible loss are also being saddled with an additional financial burden,” the two wrote, later adding, “Disaster Funeral Assistance would help individuals and households unexpected and uninsured expenses associated with the death of an immediate family member.”
They explained that federal assistance could help families afford caskets, mortuary services, death certificates, and cremation or interment. Beyond direct funeral expenses, Schumer and Ocasio-Cortez asked FEMA to consider funding to help families with insurance co-pays, hospital bills, and child care services.
Schumer and Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged that FEMA’s decision to fund funerals in the state of New York could open a floodgate of requests from other states, but they argued that their home state requires the most help.
“While we understand that granting New York access to the IHP may inspire other states to seek the same declaration, no other state has experienced such a severe and disproportionate impact from COVID-19 like New York,” they wrote.
The continued, “New York is the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak with more than a third of all cases in the United States and almost half of all recorded deaths in the United States, and so New York deserves special consideration from FEMA in granting additional categories of Individual Assistance, like the Individuals and Households Program.”
In order for New York to access the additional funding from FEMA, Gaynor must activate the Individuals and Households Program, which allows access to the Disaster Funeral Assistance program. New York previously was granted funding from the Individuals and Households Program following Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
During a socially-distant press conference in New York City, Ocasio-Cortez joined Schumer to make her case to FEMA, saying, “People are losing parents and siblings. And when it comes to the cost of a burial, in New York City alone and in New York state alone, a funeral can cost anywhere between on average $11,000 to $13,000.”
“So in the most heavily impacted district in America, what we are seeing is that families all of the sudden have to pay $10,000, $20,000, $30,000. And they’re confronted with $20,000 in burial funds that were unplanned in a working-class community where people are making $40,000, $50,000 per year in New York City,” Ocasio-Cortez explained.
As of Tuesday, New York had more than 202,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 10,834 related deaths.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “This crisis is happening in the context of racial and income inequality … our lowest income and our blackest and brownest communities are the hardest hit and experiencing the largest amount of casualties due to COVID-19.” https://t.co/WXd4cANJXD pic.twitter.com/3ribO5l2tt
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 14, 2020
