WASHINGTON – Following calls from U.S. Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and colleagues, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that Social Security recipients will automatically receive direct cash assistance included in the CARES Act without having to file tax returns.

On Wednesday, Hassan and Brown led a group of 41 colleagues in raising alarms over guidance that the IRS issued earlier this week that said Social Security beneficiaries would need to file tax returns in order to receive direct cash payments.

This directly contradicted congressional intent in drafting the CARES Act, which had made clear that the Treasury Department had the authority to send automatic direct cash assistance to Social Security beneficiaries regardless of whether they file taxes.