Newsletter: Meet our Newest Fellow

Written By Anne Meeker

Drumroll please — we have a big announcement for our team at POPVOX Foundation. We are delighted to share that Jeremy Dillard, former Senior Congressional Liaison for the VA’s Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs (who you may remember from this webinar), is joining our team as a Fellow!

As part of his fellowship, Jeremy will be working on some casework-related projects for our team, including an effort to track how agencies are changing their handling of Congressional inquiries. If you have observations for us on how you’ve seen the agencies you work with change recently, or just want to reach out for a chat, please say hi at jeremy@popvox.org.

It’s another big news week below, especially with appropriations hearings on common casework agencies hitting the schedule. As always, 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
Deputy Director
POPVOX Foundation

Save the Date: Casework Happy Hour on June 24

For House caseworkers attending the CAO’s Caseworker Fly-In week June 23-25 (and Senate friends who can find an excuse to be in DC!), we will be hosting a casework happy hour the evening of June 24 — with bonus points if you bring a friend from your office’s policy or comms team! Location and details to come soon, and we’re excited to see you in person.

Hearings Roundup

Senate Veterans Affairs

House Veterans Affairs

House Appropriations

House Oversight

House Homeland Security

Senate Aging

Agency News

SSA

  • SSA announces it will default to withholding 50% of benefit checks to recoup overpayments, instead of 100%.

  • SSA staff also received an email from agency leadership with instructions on how to correct records for constituents mistakenly marked as dead.

  • The Committee on House Oversight Ranking Member submitted a report from an SSA whistleblower to the SSA OIG raising concerns about how SSA handles sensitive data.

Immigration

  • USCIS and DHS announced the termination of TPS for Afghan parolees.

  • The Department of State’s reorganization may be more sweeping than originally proposed, with an additional 3,400 jobs to be eliminated. Full reorganization plans are due by June 2.

  • USCIS rolled out a new Alien Registration Requirement tool to help immigrants understand if they are required to register with USCIS.

  • Related to our discussion on April 30 around legal resources for immigration cases — some law firms are increasingly declining to take pro bono immigration cases.

  • The Trump Administration has taken steps to deport migrants to detention centers in Libya.

  • Immigration studies groups are raising questions about DHS’ reported numbers on removals.

  • The Trump Administration’s new “golden visa” program is already showing up in some immigration application documents, despite the fact that additional permanent residency cards would require Congressional authorization.

  • Customs and Border Protection rolled back internal policies around standards for facilities housing pregnant women, the elderly, and disabled, and prioritizing processing for detainees with heightened medical needs.

  • Helpful timeline from #AfghanEvac on Pacito v. Trump.

VA

  • Clinical mental health staff at VHA have raised concerns that return-to-office mandates mean clinical facilities are overcrowded, harming efforts to protect veteran privacy and confidentiality.

  • 11,000 VHA employees have requested to leave their jobs, despite the fact that many direct patient-facing roles are not eligible for separation incentives including the “fork” or deferred retirement offers.

  • VA announced it will move the Office of Survivor Benefits from VBA back to the Office of the Secretary to provide more visibility and oversight into application processes.

FEMA

  • President Trump dismissed the acting head of FEMA after he stated in a Congressional hearing that the agency should not be abolished.

  • The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure released a discussion draft of a new bill to reform FEMA. Members of Congress and other stakeholders are encouraged to submit feedback — we have some starting points!

  • The President announced several new members of the FEMA Review Council, including a handful of local officials.

  • FEMA announced that it will end its door-to-door disaster recovery program, instead emphasizing services available through state and local recovery services.

IRS

  • End of an era: the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) program officially wound down this week, although the IRS still has almost 600,000 backlogged claims.

  • IRS is taking measures to address this year’s tax filing backlog by instituting mandatory overtime and delaying the date when employees accepting deferred retirement can officially go on administrative leave.

  • The IRS issued RIF notices to employees in the Taxpayer Experience Office, a unit in the IRS dedicated to identifying and making recommendations to fix common customer service challenges within the agency.

Student loan collections restarted

After a five-year pause, the Department of Education has restarted forced collections on delinquent student loan debts. Constituents with loans in default may start to see tax refunds and other payments withheld right away, and garnishments for Social Security benefits, wages, and other recurring payments starting in June. For early-career caseworkers out there, this is a reminder to talk to your office about student loan repayment programs, and NYT has a roundup of tips for recent grads navigating student loan debt.

REAL ID is…here?

TSA’s long-delayed requirements for travelers to have REAL ID documents to fly are finally taking effect — but travelers who do not have a REAL ID or other accepted document can still fly with additional screening measures.

OPM retirements to go fully online

Starting June 2, most federal retirement applications for federal employees will be handled entirely online, with a goal of going fully paperless by July 15. While still high, it appears retirement numbers for federal employees are starting to stabilize.

New Postmaster just dropped

USPS announced former FedEx and Waste Management executive David Steiner as the new Postmaster General. Get your popcorn ready for some good hearings!

GAO recommends new ways for agencies to monitor administrative burdens

GAO notes that OMB’s instructions to agencies on how to track and monitor “administrative burdens” (process barriers that keep constituents from accessing the benefits they are legally entitled to claim) are unclear and confusing. We would also note that agencies could just ask caseworkers.

Constituents with low tech skills worried about changes to agency customer service

Many private businesses and government agencies are investing in automated customer services, including more online services, chatbots, and AI tools; however, advocates for the elderly and disabled are raising concerns about what rushed or incomplete rollouts may mean for constituents with lower levels of computer literacy.

DOJ FOIA office reports record year for FOIA requests

The Department of Justice’s annual report on FOIA requests reported a 25% increase in requests for FY2024 over FY2023. FOIA.gov also has a neat data tool to compare FOIA numbers between agencies.

US Forest Service Staff report “biohazard” maintenance issues after contract cuts

After new layers of contract review have paused the renewal of maintenance contracts for certain US Forest Service facilities, some USFS staff report trash piling up, toilets overflowing, and staff being asked to dispose of discarded needles at government campgrounds.

Transgender military servicemember ban to remain in place for now

The Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing the Trump Administration to enforce its ban on transgender military service members while the court considers challenges to the ban.

Anne Meeker
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