About 9 million people are likely to miss out on a $1,200 coronavirus stimulus check due to a lack of updated government records

• The Government Accountability Office said in a report published Monday that 8.7 million Americans are likely to miss out on coronavirus relief checks of up to $1,200.
• Neither the Treasury nor the IRS kept up-to-date records on the number of people eligible to receive a stimulus check who have not yet received one, according to the congressional watchdog's report.
• The lack of "such information could hinder outreach efforts and place potentially millions of individuals at risk of missing their payment," the report said.

A government watchdog concluded in a report Monday that millions of Americans might miss out on coronavirus relief checks because of incomplete records from the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department.

More than 8.7 million people might not receive a stimulus check of up to $1,200 for which they are eligible due to these missing records, according to a 371-page assessment released by the Government Accountability Office, an entity of Congress responsible for conducting audits and evaluations.

In the report, the GAO said neither the Treasury nor the IRS maintained accurate records on the number of people eligible to receive a stimulus check who have not yet received one.

The lack of "such information could hinder outreach efforts and place potentially millions of individuals at risk of missing their payment," the report said.

"Without an updated estimate, the Treasury, the IRS, other federal agencies, and IRS' outreach partners are limited in their ability to appropriately scale and target outreach and communication efforts to individuals who may be eligible for a payment," the report added.

These eligible recipients are "outside of the tax system" and "are likely to be very low-income," said the report, citing a group working with the IRS to spread awareness of stimulus relief payments. These recipients, in particular, the report added, are "therefore most in need of the money."

In March, President Donald Trump signed a $2 trillion economic stimulus package to help mitigate the devastating economic consequences Americans faced in the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Included in this package were payments of $1,200 that were sent out to millions of people in the United States.

Since then, Congress has stalled on passing a second round of coronavirus relief. House Democrats in May passed a $3.4 trillion stimulus package but Senate leaders repeatedly struck it down, with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, saying the proposal had "no chance of becoming law."

Trump has urged the Senate to pass another stimulus relief package, calling specifically for Republicans to get behind it.

"I want to see people get money," Trump said at a press conference earlier this week.

The coronavirus has infected more than 6.8 million people in the United States, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Of that, more than 199,000 people have died from it.