More than 345,500 individuals will receive new stimulus payments worth between $600 and $2000 as a result of new emergency legislation passed at the end of 2021.
A $557 million bank of federal Coronavirus relief funds will be used to send checks of up to $2,000 to eligible adults and $600 to eligible children.
According to The SUN, about 350,000 tribal members will receive the checks after Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez approved the vote for the fund.
A special session of the tribe’s governing body coordinated the vote which the result was 18-2.
A portion of the tribe’s roughly $2.1 billion funds will come from the American Rescue Plan Act signed by President Joe Biden.
“It has been over 8 months since President Joe Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act and our Navajo people should not suffer another day without knowing how their government will assist them as they suffer from grief, mental health, and financial hardship,” Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty stated.
“A second allocation of hardship assistance payments of $2,000 per adult and $600 per child will allow our relatives to purchase essential winter supplies like gasoline, firewood, and food now.”
“This is the people’s money, and it should bring them each some sort of hope during troubling financial times,” Council Delegate Nathaniel Brown added.
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There have been about 7,500 unclaimed checks from the Navajo Nation CARES Fund Hardship Assistance Program, according to Nez.
“Unclaimed checks may be due to a change or error with a mailing address, an incomplete application, or other issues,” Nez added.
Designed to help tribal members affected financially by the Coronavirus pandemic, the program provides financial assistance to tribal members.
By the end of the calendar year, funds provided by the assistance program must be obligated or spent.
A second-round payment won’t require people to reapply.
Payments in the future will be in accordance with the financial process previously approved by the Office of the Controller.