Republican senator demands $127 million taxpayer dollars paid out to nearly 3,500 DEAD people through Democrats' pension 'bailout' be returned

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy is demanding the return of millions of taxpayer dollars shelled out to dead Americans.

Cassidy, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, says nearly 3,500 dead Americans got over $127 million through a Democrat-led pension 'bailout' included in the American Rescue Plan.

The top Republican sent a letter to the Central States Pension Fund demanding a refund for hardworking taxpayers on Monday.

The Louisiana lawmaker claims the dead Americans received millions in Special Financial Assistance (SFA) bailouts as a result of the Democrats ' American Rescue Plan, which passed in 2021.

And the agency has not returned the excess funding.

The law authorized the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to provide billions of dollars in bailout funding to pensions nationwide, but the corporation, Cassidy says, did not properly double-check Central States' request.

'As a result, PBGC did not notice the 3,479 dead participants Central States included in its SFA bailout application,' Cassidy wrote in a letter to Central States' Executive Director Thomas Nyhan.

'PBGC’s reliance resulted in Central States receiving $127 million in overpaid funding for nearly 3,500 applicants who were dead at the time of its application.'

Central States' application for taxpayer-funded bailout money totaled $35.8 billion, and PBGC approved it in full, according to the letter.

Later, it was discovered that Central States included 3,479 dead participants in its application for bailout money.

'In other words, the extra $127 million Central States received as a result of its own failure to provide accurate census information was a windfall to Central States to which it was not otherwise entitled,' Cassidy wrote.

'Central States’ attorneys have refused my staff’s requests to return the overpaid SFA bailout funding to the American taxpayers,' he added.

Central States Pension Fund did not return DailyMail.com's request for comment.

The American Rescue Plan, however, was not the only Covid-era legislation that awarded taxpayer dollars to the dead.

Treasury Department sent over $1.4 billion in stimulus payments to dead Americans during the Covid pandemic.

By April 30 2020, the Treasury sent checks to 1.1 million dead people, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.

Further, a 2023 analysis from the Associated Press found that over $400 billion of Covid aid was lost to fraud or wasted.

Cassidy requested that Central States respond to his letter no later than March 11 with answers to whether or not the pension will commit to refunding taxpayers.