Coronavirus News: Ocasio-Cortez, Schumer ask feds for help to pay for funerals, burials in New York

ByEyewitness News AP logo
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
AOC, Schumer ask feds for funding to pay for funerals
Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked the federal government to help pay for funerals for the state's thousands of dead.

CORONA, Queens -- Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked the federal government to help pay for funerals for the state's thousands of dead.

The two Democrats appeared together in the hard-hit neighborhood of Corona, Queens, part of Ocasio-Cortez's district, to ask the Federal Emergency Management Administration to approve disaster funeral assistance across New York.

"It's bad enough people are losing their jobs, and don't have food to eat, are separated from their families and loved ones," Schumer said. "But to not be able to give a decent funeral and burial to someone who is near and dear to you is outrageous."

Ocasio-Cortez said the coronavirus is "decimating an already vulnerable community" and funeral costs are one more burden.

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