Allegheny Health Department director Dr. Debra Bogen and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald joined U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb yesterday for a virtual town hall meeting. Lamb answered questions from the participants about the federal stimulus and unemployment. Lamb also gave updates on the COVID-19 Coronavirus on the federal and local level. He discussed how he is pleased about the federal government’s most recent bipartisan stimulus package providing cash payments to millions of Americans and extending unemployment eligibility to the self-employed and other groups.

One of the big issues locally has been the unemployment problems of filing and when will self-employed citizens be able to file. Lamb stated that Self-employed workers who have submitted a claim can expect to receive benefits within two weeks to a month.

Beaver County Radio’s Frank Sparks participated in the call and said that  Representative Lamb told the participants the same thing he said in an interview on Beaver County Radio last week that many Pennsylvanians who qualify for the federal government’s $1,200 cash payments can expect to receive that money after April 13, but those who filed taxes using direct deposit will receive rebates first. For those who do not have direct deposit and can’t wait for a paper check, Lamb said the IRS is expected to make available an online portal for qualifiers to sign up for direct deposit. The first batch of paper checks would go out in the first week of May, starting with lowest income Americans, but could take months to arrive.

Those relying on social security benefits can expect to receive their stimulus through the normal social security system and are not required to file a claim, Lamb said.