How would YOU fund the government?
Hi caseworkers,
We talk a lot in this newsletter about how casework expertise and insights should be an essential component of policymaking — but that’s obviously a two-way street. Sometimes, a sharper understanding of how policy gets made, including the types of policymaking that go beyond individual pieces of legislation, can also help caseworkers bring a critical eye to understanding the underlying reasons behind what’s causing casework problems.
We’re in the thick of one of those critical moments right now with appropriations season. You’ve definitely handled casework related to shutdowns, when Congress fails to fund the government, but this process is actually also a great opportunity to think creatively with your team about how you would like to see agencies work differently, or which nonprofit or government initiatives in your district or state could use a hand. More on that below!
If you have questions about our work or suggestions for how we can be helpful, please feel free to reply to this email, or reach out to me at anne@popvox.org.
Anne Meeker
Managing Director
POPVOX Foundation
Events
The Constitutional Basis for Casework with Dave Rapallo
Wednesday, March 18, 1 PM ET
Safeguarding constituents’ First Amendment right to petition the government for redress from grievances is what caseworkers do — but how much is casework actually enshrined in law, and what does that mean for how far caseworkers can push agency contacts? We’ll be joined by Dave Rapallo, former Staff Director of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and current Federal Legislation Clinic Director at Georgetown, for a discussion of how oversight powers have evolved, practical strategies for dealing with unresponsive agencies, and how to work with committee staff to escalate casework trends to formal oversight.
ICYMI
Fresh Start: Casework Notes and Data for 2026
Thursday, February 12, 1 PM ET
Keeping good case notes is one of the most foundational skills for all caseworkers, but the easiest to overlook when things get busy. This workshop will dive into standards and practices for case notes and tags, sustainable management practices for helping your team keep good notes, and making the most of the data from well-kept notes.
Craigslist for Casework
It’s appropriations season! We are aware of a few offices considering casework-specific requests, both on the infrastructure for casework itself and on specific agency policies/programs: if you’d like to get in touch (or want our take on how specific requests might impact casework), reply to this email.
And if you’re like — what is an appropriation? We’ve got you covered with this video on how Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending can be helpful in the casework process.
Want to respond to this notice, or have a notice you’d like us to run in two weeks? Drop me a line at anne@popvox.org.
Casework News
The House Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds has a new resource on healthcare whistleblowers. Also, while we’re here: we heard that 2/3rds of the staff who responded to the Ombuds’ office’s annual survey in 2025 were district staff. Kudos to y’all on taking advantage of the wonderful resources from this team!
UK MPs’ casework has grown so dramatically that offices are now handling thousands of cases per year, driven largely by declining public services and confusion about where to seek help, raising questions about whether this “failure management” role is crowding out MPs’ other responsibilities. This will sound familiar…
And the 2025 reflections are still slowly coming in!
Rep. Olszewski [D, MD]: 1,500 cases closed; $2.9 million returned
Agency News
Immigration
A new DHS memo instructs federal immigration agents to arrest refugees who have not yet obtained green cards within a year of entering the US and detain them indefinitely for re-screening.
The Department of Homeland Security remains shut down while funding negotiations continue. TSA screeners, Coast Guard service members, and the Secret Service are among excepted employees working without pay, and FEMA emergency deployments have been limited.
A new DOJ rule transforms the Board of Immigration Appeals from a mandatory review body into a discretionary one, meaning all appeals will now be summarily dismissed unless a majority of board members vote to hear the case. The rule also cuts the filing window from 30 to 10 days and requires dismissal within 15 days, drastically reducing the time and options available to challenge deportation orders.
The Trump administration’s indefinite pause on the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program, combined with Congress choosing not to authorize new visas in its latest spending package, leaves over 100,000 applicants with no clear path forward and no timeline for processing to resume.
Federal agencies like DHS have used administrative subpoenas to demand records from companies like Google without judicial approval, but the Supreme Court is now scrutinizing these tools. Notably, even the government argues they are technically “voluntary” requests rather than enforceable commands, suggesting recipients may have more room to contest them than previously understood.
ICE agreements allowing local police to make federal immigration arrests have surged 950% to 1,168 agencies across 39 states, which could affect how immigrant residents in those communities interact with local services and law enforcement.
VA
The VA issued an Interim Final Rule changing how VA disability ratings examiners handle the impact of medication to treat underlying disabilities, stating that ratings should be based on the level of functional impairment while on medication, not the “baseline” level of impairment without medication.
The VA reports cutting health care hiring times in half, but the improvement largely reflects a change in how the department measures hiring speed. The agency is also undergoing a major reorganization that consolidates its regional networks, aiming to redirect resources toward frontline patient care.
An analysis of the VA’s 367 AI use cases finds that most deployed AI is focused on medical imaging and documentation rather than cutting-edge generative AI.
IRS
Welcome to filing season: New tax breaks for tips, overtime, and auto-loan interest are far more complicated than their taglines suggest, with eligibility restrictions and reporting burdens that may confuse taxpayers seeking to claim them this filing season.
After losing 27% of its workforce last year, the IRS is reassigning up to 1,400 back-office employees to cover frontline filing season work with little training.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service has a timely PSA about how taxpayers can protect themselves from tax fraud by setting up an Identity Protection PIN.
Miscellaneous
PolicyEngine developed a multi-agent AI system that turns tax and benefit policy rules into working code in 90 minutes instead of 2-3 weeks, potentially speeding up how quickly tools like benefits screeners reflect policy changes.
Speaking of those benefit policies, new academic research underlines what caseworkers have known for years: that the experience of administrative burden is more likely to make people think negatively of government.
A recent policy brief from New America warns that AI tools making it easier for residents to access government services will increase demand rather than reduce workloads, urging agencies to plan for higher volume instead of treating AI as a cost-cutting tool.
The Washington Post has compiled a searchable database of nearly 1,000 colleges across 45 states that offer free tuition programs, making it a useful resource for anyone helping students or families explore affordable higher education options.
Is 2-1-1 part of your toolkit to refer constituents to appropriate resources? For a local perspective, a Greater Cleveland 211 advisory board member highlights how the helpline serves as both a crisis lifeline and a pathway to long-term stability, and argues that its real-time call data can help policymakers and service providers identify community needs and gaps.
North Carolina’s new Hurricane Helene rebuilding program (Renew NC) is showing early signs of repeating the same problems – rigid rules, local government capacity shortfalls, and lack of temporary housing support – that left thousands of Florence and Matthew survivors waiting years for help.
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