BY ANNE MEEKER

Casework (or the practice by which individual Members and their staff work to resolve individual constituent problems with federal agencies) is a mission-critical component of Congressional service, building constituent trust and exercising Congress’s Article I responsibility to provide oversight on Executive branch agencies.

Strengthening casework has three key benefits for Congress as an institution:

Casework is a critical component of functional feedback loops.

Casework is a structured practice for Congress to gather constituent feedback on policy implementation — or Congress’ “user research.” Through helping constituents resolve difficulties with federal programs and services, caseworkers gain deep expertise into how policies are administered, including common pain points, structural dysfunction, interagency challenges, and edge cases not accounted for in initial policy drafting — building up, in aggregate, into a source of independent real-time performance data.

Casework builds constituent trust through substantive engagement.

Casework represents one of the few methods for Member offices and constituents to engage in deliberative, collaborative problem-solving. This creates opportunities for Members to demonstrate effectiveness, trustworthiness, and commitment to their constituents, even when their legislative agendas may be stalled.

Strong systems for casework create a more resilient Congress.

Casework staff independently self-organize into nonpartisan digital networks that help share and vet information, mentor new staff members, coordinate efforts to hold agencies to account, and provide peer support for stressful positions. Supporting these networks and finding ways to replicate them for other staff positions is a promising avenue to build a more resilient, collaborative Congress.

What does investment in casework look like?

For all that casework is a critical and sizable piece of Congressional operations, it is relatively not well-understood compared to DC-based positions and activities. This creates a substantial opportunity for Congress and civil society organizations to create impact by supporting casework and caseworkers through the following activities:

Developing mechanisms to translate casework expertise into actionable data for oversight

De-siloing Member casework data: POPVOX Foundation recommended to the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress that it create an anonymized, opt-in dashboard aggregating casework data from across the country to facilitate oversight; this recommendation was adopted and prioritized by the CHA Modernization Subcommittee, and is currently in development by HDS with an anticipated release date in 2025 (POPVOX Foundation continues to provide technical advice in support of this project).
Bringing casework expertise to formal policy processes: POPVOX Foundation has both directly convened caseworkers to respond to an Executive branch RFI and helped publicize open discussion drafts on pending legislation to caseworkers.

Supporting and developing casework staff

Research on the state of casework today: POPVOX Foundation conducts research into the current state of casework, including high-profile casework events like disaster recovery and the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and collaborative work on casework in Congressional reform efforts.
De-duplicating casework labor: POPVOX Foundation works to create nonpartisan resources for casework teams, including the Casework Basics manual template series, regular Casework Navigator webinars that complement official training resources, and the Casework Navigator newsletter helping caseworkers keep track of agency program changes that may impact casework demand.
Streamlining internal casework resources: POPVOX Foundation is working to advance recommendations to streamline casework support by creating a Casework Liaison Office under the House CAO as a central “concierge” for casework teams.

Formalizing and resourcing agency responses to casework

Recommendations to committees of jurisdiction: POPVOX Foundation has issued recommendations on strengthening agency responsiveness to casework to multiple committees with jurisdiction over common casework agencies, and continues to provide technical assistance to Members and committees interested in strengthening the legal framework for casework.

Supporting Congress’s in-house tech development and the vendor ecosystem to create and maintain better tools for casework

“Casework Avengers” working group: POPVOX Foundation convenes a bimonthly off-the-record informal working group bringing together internal support offices, CRM vendors, academic researchers studying casework, and think tanks and advocacy organizations supporting Congress to share information on casework and coordinate to support caseworkers.
AI tools for casework training: POPVOX Foundation creates prototype tools and training resources to show how AI could be used to strengthen casework capacity and improve Congress’s casework effectiveness.

The Case for Casework