-Listen, any little two dollar, cents, change you can give.
Anything will help.
I'm a broke college student.
-I'm a parent with two kids,
one of whom is an 18-year-old with a disability,
and the other is a 21-year-old college student.
And both of my children and our families
are left out of the stimulus funding
because of their issues and their age.
-The United States government decided to send everyone,
about everyone in America, a $1,200 check.
But there's still some holes.
And some of the main groups that are impacted
are high school seniors and college students.
-I had a little campus dining job,
so I would go over there.
They only opened four times a week,
so it's not too much on my studies,
but it's not enough to, like, support me fully.
And even when I come home from school, like,
I do have a job here in New York City.
And both of those jobs, I had to get let go of.
So I have no source of income right now.
-On top of that,
they're realizing not only did they not get any money
even if they worked a job,
but their parents don't get any money.
The way congress wrote the bill is the $500
for children only goes to children under 17.
They based that provision in the bill on the 2017
Republican tax overhaul,
which defined a child for the child tax credit
purposes as under 17.
And so they took that child tax credit,
and they turned that into the qualification
for getting the $500 child payment.
-So these stimulus checks, I was really looking forward
to saying, "Okay, yes, like,
this is gonna help me to pay my bills
and help my mother out and everything."
And now I see I can't get anything, it's like, wow.
-Another group that's also considered a dependent
are what's called adult dependents.
So people who maybe have a severe disability or,
for whatever reason, live with someone else.
That person also does not qualify.
-You know, our system is so poor in caring for
and providing support for adults with disabilities
already that there's an undue burden on families
to make sure that our adults with disabilities
are taken care of.
And so a lot of our families are doing that extra work.
And to completely leave them out of the stimulus package
is a real slap in the face I think to families,
and it makes it more difficult.
You know, I have an 18-year-old with a disability.
He's not receiving funds,
and I'm not receiving funds for him.
-I'm not sure why she's not eligible.
She's has a lot of needs that need to be met,
and we meet them.
But her therapies can run $30,000 a year.
-It's the same issue as the college students.
If they are claimed as a dependent
on somebody else's tax return,
that individual doesn't get any money,
nor does the person claiming them on the tax return.
I was speaking with some Democratic senators
earlier today.
They've heard an earful about this.
You know, why has this population been left out?
There are efforts to maybe try to rectify this going forward.
But as of today, those people do not get any money.
-It's hard. It's really, really hard.
And we hold our breath because, I mean,
we can't do some of the things
that other people that are social distancing can do.
We can't take her out.
If she were to ever get something,
we'd probably lose her.
People with disabilities need to be treated with respect,
and I don't think they are.
-It's definitely a goal,
particularly on the Democratic side,
to try to cover the people who were left out.
Again, the purpose of this money
is to try to help as many Americans
as possible who are $75,000 or less.
And so a lot of these individuals
who have disabilities or who are college students
obviously don't have a lot of money
and have been impacted severely by what's going on, as well.
-And, you know, it's difficult to wrap your head
around congress
leaving out an incredibly vulnerable population.
You know, I think in some cases, this may be the difference
between overly stressed single parents
being able to care for the child with a disability at home
or an adult with a disability and not.
You know, it may make the difference between
a college student being able to go back to school or not.
-And I don't even know what to do with my life.
I don't know.
And this is not a good start either since there's no jobs,
there's no income, you're not giving us anything.
What can we do but just sit here and sulk?