Democrats announce funeral benefits for low-income families who lost loved ones to COVID-19

“This pandemic was not hitting all of us equally,” Ocasio-Cortez stated, as reported by local outlet NBC New York. “It was hitting Black families hard, it was hitting frontline workers hard, it was hitting immigrant families extremely hard, working-class families. It was disproportionately hitting along lines of race and lines of class.” According to Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter, the funding includes undocumented folks. 

“If you are a family who couldn’t afford or had to just stretch and went without rent or went without food or anything else so you might give your loved one a decent funeral and burial,” Schumer said, “you can get reimbursed for up to $7,000.” Given what we know about unemployment (and underemployment), as well as how the novel coronavirus has ravaged communities of color and low-income folks, this reimbursement is no small thing. 

As a spokesperson for Schumer said in a statement, as reported by the New York Daily News, “Families across New York, particularly those in communities of color … have already paid the ultimate price.” These funds offer a bit of relief from at least the financial pain and stress associated with burying a loved one. 

Here’s a clip of Ocasio-Cortez announcing the funding in Queens on Monday.

And a clip of Schumer speaking at the same press conference.

And here is the full press conference.