Keeping the TX, NM, and CA delegations in our thoughts
Hi caseworkers,
We want to start off by saying that our thoughts are with the Congressional delegations managing the aftermath of flash floods in Texas and other areas of the Southwest, as well as ongoing forest fires in California. Disaster casework just never gets easier, especially for caseworkers who are personally impacted.
Today, we have some housekeeping updates, and a few questions for you.
First of all, hello from our new home on Substack! You shouldn’t notice any major changes, but let me know if anything seems wonky on your end.
Second, we’re excited to announce our next Casework Navigator webinar on handling consumer complaints below. Don’t miss it!
Third, we are planning to take a break from this newsletter over August, and come back with a few tweaks as we head into a busy fall. We’d love to hear from you! What do you find useful about this newsletter, and what do you skip over to get to the good stuff? What else can we cover that would be helpful? If we put some of our agency updates on social media so that you get them sooner, which platform would reach you? We have a short, anonymous survey, and any feedback is greatly appreciated.
You can also (always!) email me with any feedback, suggestions, questions, rants, vents, or to set up time to chat. It truly is an honor to get to cheerlead for your work, and I’m always happy to be a resource however I can.
Anne Meeker
Deputy Director
POPVOX Foundation
Webinar: Navigating Consumer Protection Casework
Navigating Consumer Protection Casework
Constituent complaints involving private companies can be some of the most confusing and “grey-area” casework — but there are clear avenues to direct some of these inquiries to appropriate government agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
In this webinar, we’ll hear from former CFPB and FTC CTO Erie Meyer about how these agencies handle consumer complaints, and what Congressional offices should know about the landscape of government resources for consumer protection.
Anticipating Casework Series
Almost all casework comes back in some way to agencies’ digital infrastructure: how constituents interact with websites and forms, how cases and files are created and handed between business units, and notices or payments are received or issued. But for casework teams, these can sometimes be some of the most opaque and frustrating elements of understanding agency processes.
In this series, former digital staff from casework agencies will join us to answer your questions on how agencies’ digital infrastructure is built, managed, and modernized, how they anticipate any challenges showing up in caseworker inboxes this year, and tips for caseworkers on effective inquiries. For each event, they will be joined by nonpartisan civil society representatives who can help contextualize what agency changes mean on the ground.
Hearings Roundup
House Veterans Affairs
Monday, July 14, 3 PM ET: VA Office of Information and Technology Organizational Structure and Priorities
Tuesday, July 15, 2:15 PM ET: Oversight: Right Time, Right Place, Right Treatment with VA Community Care
Wednesday, July 16, 2:30 PM ET: Oversight: Path of Purpose: Restoring the VA VR&E Program to Effectively Serve Veterans
Casework News
Congratulations to the team for Rep. Webster [R, FL] on passing $2.5 million in benefits returned!
And likewise congrats to the team for Rep. Moore [R, WV] on passing the $2 million mark!
PSA ad from Rep. Whitesides [D, CA] on available casework services.
Coverage of Rep. Neguse’s [D, CO] team’s effort to facilitate visas for students participating in a sister-city exchange program.
Coverage of Rep. Cuellar’s [D, TX] success in helping a Vietnam Veteran receive the medals he was entitled to, including a Bronze Star.
Press release from Rep. Malliotakis’ [R, NY] team on helping a constituent safely return from Israel after an air space closure.
Casework staffing changes in the office of Rep. Deluzio [D, PA]. Nerd moment — it’s always so interesting to see the career path that leads people to casework!
Webinar from the Center for Medicare Advocacy on casework and how to seek help from Congressional offices, in partnership with the Connecticut delegation.
The Levin Center’s State Oversight Academy Symposium was wonderful from start to finish, but I’d especially recommend taking a few minutes to watch the keynote from Megan Rickman-Blackwood on the importance of casework and the courage of public service (28 minute mark).
Agency News
FEMA and disaster relief
For offices in impacted communities, it may be helpful to amplify local FAA messaging on banning drone activity to allow rescue operations to proceed safely.
Potential disasters also include cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure. The Verge has an interview with Joshua Corman from the Institute for Security and Technology on potential vulnerabilities, and how local governments can plan for them.
FEMA has canceled $4.5 billion in BRIC grants to local communities to help prepare for and mitigate disaster damage.
Immigration
USCIS has changed its text alert number starting on July 1: alerts for case status changes and appointments will now come from 872466 (USA-IMM).
USCIS also issued updated guidance on the validity of alien refugee and asylee marriages: all marriages between principals and derivative spouses must be legally valid under the law where the marriage was celebrated to be valid for immigration purposes.
The Department of Justice announced it would prioritize cases to revoke citizenship from naturalized immigrants for certain crimes, especially those who may have lied about criminal convictions or membership in illegal groups in their citizenship applications.
President Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis confirmed that the Federal government approved Florida’s request to detail National Guard JAGs as immigration judges to address the backlog of pending cases in Florida.
More back-and-forth over ICE’s guidance prohibiting Members of Congress from making unannounced visits to detention centers: a group of 18 House Democrats sent an oversight letter to Secretary Noem pointing out language from the FY2024 appropriations bill that affirms Members’ authority to conduct announced visits. Relatedly, Jim Townsend from the Levin Center has an op-ed defending Members’ oversight authority on these visits.
A Federal judge blocked the Trump Administration’s move to end TPS for Haitian immigrants before the end of their original extension in 2026.
The Department of Homeland Security appears to be departing from precedent and engaging in deportations for undocumented military spouses who would previously have been granted discretionary parole.
Social Security
Social Security announced that beneficiaries who want to continue receiving their checks by mail after September 30 will be required to call the Department of the Treasury to submit a waiver. People currently receiving paper checks who do not file a waiver or elect a method for electronic deposit may experience benefit disruptions.
Lots of great casework-driven questions from Members at the recent Ways and Means hearing with SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano.
Social Security has begun reassigning field office staff to answer its main phone line. Federal unions representing Social Security employees argue that this move will slow responses to complex cases handled by field offices — and, we’ll note, that may also result in slower casework response.
Social Security is backtracking its plan to mark immigrants whose legal status was revoked as “dead” in its database. Instead, they will now be flagged as “unverified.”
Social Security came under scrutiny for sending a mass email applauding Congress on the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and indicating that Federal income taxes on benefits will be eliminated. Some experts say that portions of this email were misleading, and have called the move into question over Hatch Act violations.
VA
VA has reversed plans for mass layoffs, planning to shrink its workforce by 30,000 staff without direct service-provider roles through attrition.
GAO issued a report calling on VA to better plan how it will modernize its scheduling system with the coming transition to Oracle Health records software. Currently, VA schedulers use dozens of systems to schedule and monitor wait times, requiring staff to use multiple applications to schedule a single appointment — and leading to confusion and missed appointments for veterans.
VA OIG issued a report finding that VA did not take all available corrective actions to address service members prematurely denied for service-connected conditions related to burn pit exposure.
VA Crisis Line employees are raising concerns about rising workload, noting that many Crisis Line responders are often juggling multiple text and webchats at the same time.
Federal Employees
The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump Administration may continue with planned RIFs and reorganizations of Federal agencies.
The Trump Administration extended a Federal hiring freeze through mid-October. Certain positions are exempt, including immigration enforcement, national security, public safety, and the provision of SSA, Medicare, and VA benefits.
The Merit Systems Protection Board has received twice its annual number of appeals this year, and may struggle to process this backlog without a quorum soon.
Feedback needed: OBBBA tools from PolicyEngine
Our friends at PolicyEngine have just released a new tool allowing offices, researchers, and the general public to explore household-level impact of the OBBBA (we’ll have more on impacts we anticipate for casework next week) in terms of tax and benefit changes. The team is also working on some features that will show impacts at the state/Congressional district level. They mentioned that they’d love feedback! If you have thoughts, questions, or ideas, please pass them along and we’ll be happy to share or put you in touch.
We love good news! National Passport Information Center fixes problems
It’s rare that we see a GAO report with some unqualified good news — but GAO issued a new report highlighting how the National Passport Information Center was able to halt and then reverse a significant decline in customer experience metrics. By increasing staffing, adding locations, and improving front-line staff training, the agency was able to bring call wait times down from 45 minutes to under a minute in one year.
More good news! You can keep your shoes on at TSA!
TSA is quietly dropping requirements for travelers to remove their shoes when going through TSA checkpoints at major airports around the country. The change seems mostly due to advances in technology that allows TSA officers to detect shoe-related threats (that’s a phrase) in body scanners, instead of just bag scanners.
The Department of Education declines to release funding for afterschool and summer programs
The Department of Education sent an email to recipients the day before the money was scheduled to be released noting that the funds are “under review.” Some superintendents of impacted school districts are urging parents to make backup plans for afterschool care for the coming school year.
Buy-now-pay-later plans will now be included in credit scores
FICO announced that it will now factor buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) programs in its credit scoring algorithms. Supporters say this will help people without traditional lending products like car loans or mortgages build credit; however, some BNPL providers say more research and data is needed on whether this move will help or hurt credit scores.
Only 13 eligible service members return after discharge over COVID vaccine
Of 8,700 service members discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, only 700 expressed interest in reinstatement under the new policy, only 97 taking the next step of having their records reviewed by BCMR, and 13 making it all the way through the process to be reinstated with back pay. Others remain in the evaluation pipelines for all branches.
Supreme Court issues decision clarifying differential pay for reservists on disaster relief
In Feliciano v. Department of Transportation, the Supreme Court clarifies that military members called to active duty in support of contingency operations (including local disaster relief) still qualify for differential pay. There is no statute of limitations on this type of case, so caseworkers may hear from some military members seeking back pay after this decision.
