Upcoming Telephone Town Hall,
Relief Checks and More 
April 7, 2020

Dear Neighbors,

Weekly Telephone Town Hall

I will host my next telephone town hall meeting this Thursday, April 9th at 3:45 pm Pacific Time.  As we move through the Coronavirus public health crisis, I want to continue to hear your concerns and give you the most up-to-date information.

I will be joined by Los Angeles Unified School District South Superintendent Michael Romero and a local health professional to answer your questions.

To join this week’s telephone town hall, please click here.

I look forward to speaking with you.

 

Estimated Timing on Coronavirus Relief Checks

To provide financial help to low- and moderate-income Americans at this challenging time, Congress passed the CARES Act, which became law on March 27.  To learn more about how the new law can help you and your family, please visit the Coronavirus Resources section of my website.

I’ve heard from many of you who are wondering when the relief payments will be paid out.

The IRS will make about 60 million payments to Americans through direct deposit in mid-April, starting as soon as next week.  These first payments will go to people that the IRS already has direct deposit information for from their 2018 or 2019 tax returns.

This will include people who receive Social Security who filed federal tax returns that included direct deposit information.

About 10 days after the first round of payments are made in mid-April, the IRS plans to make a second run of payments.  These payments will be made to Social Security beneficiaries who did not file tax returns in 2018 or 2019 and receive their Social Security benefits via direct deposit.

Around the week of May 4th, the IRS will begin issuing paper checks to individuals.  The paper checks will be issued at a rate of about 5 million per week.  It could take up to 20 weeks to get all the checks out.

The IRS expects to create a website by the end of April/early May that will allow taxpayers to find out the status of their rebate payment and update their direct deposit information.

 

Real ID Deadline Extended

The requirement of a REAL ID license in order to board domestic flights in the U.S. has been postponed for one year.  You now have until October 1, 2021 to replace your current California driver’s license with a REAL ID California driver’s license.


Face Coverings

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the California Department of Health and the Los Angeles Department of Public Health are now all recommending people wear cloth face coverings in public in order to slow the spread of COVID-19.

While face coverings are not a requirement, they can prevent the person wearing the covering from spreading the coronavirus to others.

Public health officials warn that people should not have a false sense of security from wearing a face covering.  We should continue to stay home whenever possible, maintain physical distance from others, wash our hands frequently, and avoid touching our eyes, mouths and noses.

It is NOT recommended that people use the N-95 or surgical masks, as those are needed by our healthcare providers and first responders.  There is a very limited supply of these professional-grade masks and we should leave those masks for our healthcare professionals.

Be well.

In Community,

Nanette Diaz Barragán
U.S. Representative for California’s 44th District