Newsletter: New Guidance on Hosting Joint Events
Apologies in advance to our Senate friends for the fact that we’re going to be a little House-focused today, because there is some big news for House caseworkers out of the Committee on House Administration: offices are now officially allowed to co-host constituent service events with qualified local nonprofits.
Senate, you can be a little smug — your rules have allowed this for some time.
But for our House friends, this allows casework teams to be creative with new ways to connect constituents with local nonprofits who can help with needs that aren’t appropriately addressed through casework (if you’ve ever tried to push a service fair through Ethics and Admin before, you know that it was doable, but took a lot of back-and-forth and careful wording).
We also have an invitation to an event we’re hosting on disaster relief programs, and a quick roundup of agency-related news you may have missed.
I am always here for questions, comments, suggestions, or just to chat about casework. Please feel free to reach out by replying to this email, or shoot me a note at anne@popvox.org.
Anne Meeker
Deputy Director
POPVOX Foundation
New House Handbook Guidance on Joint Events
What’s Going On?
The Committee on House Administration just approved a change to the House Member Handbook clarifying that Member offices can cosponsor joint constituent service events with qualified local nonprofits.
As Modernization Subcommittee Chairwoman Stephanie Bice [R, OK] noted in her comments:
“We're voting on this today as an amendment to the Members handbook, but that doesn't quite capture the significance of this change. Figuring out the rules governing district-based events was a major source of confusion and unfortunately, the fear of non compliance sometimes led Member offices to forego hosting or participating in these events, even when they provide valuable constituent services. This is truly a shame, because our top priority should be to effectively serve our constituents, and the rules should make it easier, not harder for us to do that very thing. Previously, the Select Committee recommended providing more flexibility within House Rule 24 to allow a Member offices to cosponsor constituent service events with qualified outside groups. The Modernization Subcommittee prioritized implementing this recommendation and for the last several months we've worked hand in hand with our colleagues on the Ethics Committee to find a path forward. This change is a major win for our constituents. And that's something every member should support.”
Or, as Subcommittee Vice-Chair Derek Kilmer noted in his own statement:
“This is about whether Members of Congress can co-host events with a nonprofit or with a state or local government. So this is working with your VSO to do a resource fair for veterans who are trying to enter the civilian workforce. This is working with your local nonprofit to help a first time homebuyer buy a home. This is working with your local workforce board to co-host a job fair. By the way — all things allowed under the rules in the United States Senate, previously not allowed in the House. And that's dumb. We should fix it. Right? That's what this is. This is, stop doing dumb things, allow us to do smart things.”
Full guidance on which nonprofits qualify and any other restrictions will be available in the CHA Members’ Handbook shortly. We’ll note that this is especially vital for offices figuring out how to efficiently and effectively marshal resources in a local disaster, when there may not be time to chase approvals through two committees.
What Should Congressional Caseworkers Be Doing Now?
Let’s be clear: there is nothing that offices must do in light of this new guidance. But we constantly see new and innovative events hosted by casework teams around the country, and we are so excited to see this barrier come down to let offices be even more creative in using their on-the-ground networks to meet constituent needs. Three tips to get started:
Talk to your comms and outreach colleagues about a game plan.
No casework team is an island (despite how it may feel sometimes) — taking advantage of this new change will require coordinating with your outreach or field teams on strategy, and your comms team to make sure you’re getting the most out of your efforts to host collaborative events.
Consider sharing the news with your local network of stakeholders.
Your local community may have their own ideas for how they’d like to collaborate with you! You can even level the playing field by creating a “host an event with us” application form for your team’s site.
Check out the CAO Coach team’s bank of innovative outreach ideas.
The CAO coach team has phenomenal resources for district teams to plan a dynamic field presence and submit their best ideas for innovative events (including templates and logistics info). Definitely browse the ideas out there and consider submitting your own if your team has one you’re proud of.
Join Us for a Discussion on Disaster Relief Programs
On May 31, POPVOX Foundation and Georgetown University’s Massive Data Institute are co-hosting our third Interbranch Exchange event at the Georgetown McCourt school: these working sessions bring together staffers in both the executive and legislative branches, along with researchers and on-the-ground program implementers and experts. Our goal is to provide a forum for surfacing lessons learned about how policy design affects implementation and data accessibility for policy oversight and refinement.
We know it’s a challenge for caseworkers to make their way to DC, but if you have recently managed a local disaster, we hope you will consider joining us to share your experience and insights into agency implementation changes (like enforcing the rules about accepting digitally-signed Privacy Act Release Forms, anyone?) that would better help these programs serve your constituents.
Date: May 31, 2024 from 1 – 4 PM (with reception to follow)
Location: Georgetown Tech & Society, 500 First Street NW, Washington, DC
Please RSVP by May 1 using this form. We hope you will be able to join us!
Casework-Related Agency News
Awesome Medicare casework win
Great coverage of a Medicare win by the team with Rep. Jackson [D, NC]. If you have examples of other local reporting like this, send them our way!
The Supreme Court rules that overlapping service veterans can use multiple GI Bill benefits
The Supreme Court ruled that veterans who served under multiple “eras” of the GI bill may use benefits from both the Montgomery and post-9/11 GI bills. This applies to veterans.
Social Security expands definition of “public assistance household”
SSA announced a final rule to include SNAP benefits in its definition of a public assistance household, and not count SNAP benefits toward household income. SSA predicts this will vastly decrease the number of SSI overpayment cases.
Department of Labor announced new overtime eligibility for workers making under 58k
DOL announced a change to the salary threshold that determines whether workers are eligible for time-and-a-half overtime pay. DOL predicts this will affect roughly 4 million workers.
USCIS announces Deferred Enforced Departure for some Palestinians
The White House memo also instructed DHS and the Secretary of State to provide employment authorizations for Palestinians covered under this policy.
VA isn’t tracking toxic exposure survey follow up
Veterans’ advocates express concern that there is little or inconsistent follow up to new mandatory toxic exposure screenings intended to help veterans get benefits under the PACT Act. The VA notes that it is not systematically tracking whether or how frequently those screenings result in follow up.
We called for strengthening casework
Our team at POPVOX Foundation submitted public witness testimony to the House and Senate Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittees calling for 1) a GAO study on agency responsiveness to Congressional casework requests, 2) an expansion of the CRS liaison list to include regional and processing-center contacts, and 3) concurrent studies from SAA and CAO on the merits of establishing a casework-specific resource and support center under both offices. Let us know what you think!
Can’t get enough Jennifer Pahlka? We can’t either!
The Levin Center for Oversight announced two upcoming webinars May 10 and May 13 that are tailor-made for casework-driven oversight.
