Senator Charles Grassley (R) has recently called for oversight of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Funeral Assistance program.

Grassley and Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.) wrote a letter to Michael Horowitz, Chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee concerning the program which is offering up to $9,000 to reimburse funeral expenses for COVID-19 deaths since January 20, 2020. Grassley tells KCII he has no problem with people getting assistance for loved ones who died because of COVID-19, but he shares concerns with the program, “One, there’s some evidence that people that died of a heart attack, the death certificate is changed to say COVID. And then there’s people that aren’t legally in the United States, that are getting the benefit of it. And it’s fraud like that that we are trying to uncover. Right now we’re investigating and I hope that we get back that there’s nothing wrong going on but right now there’s darn good reasons to be suspicious that there isn’t some fraud.”

Applicants must be a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national – meaning a person born in an outlying possession of the United States – or a qualified alien, such as a green card holder, refugee or asylee whose deportation is being withheld. Grassley also has concerns with the program’s permitting of people to receive up to $35,500 for funeral expenses of multiple deceased individuals. Grassley’s letter calls for an audit of the program including the average amount of benefit provided, the number of applicants that utilized amended death certificates, and the actions FEMA took to deter fraud within the program.