Newsletter: Sorting the Real from the Possible from the Unlikely
One of the great challenges of casework is sorting through massive amounts of information to figure out what’s relevant and helpful for specific casework. This has never been more important or more of a challenge than this year, with big DOGE-related changes to agencies, and now big legislation with the reconciliation package entering Senate negotiations. For staff in offices on both sides of the aisle, it can be time-consuming to sort through the headlines and figure out what to react to, what to plan for, and what’s safely ignorable.
To that end, we are excited to announce our next series of Casework Navigator webinars, aimed at helping you sort through all of this and understand how your constituents and your casework operations might be impacted by proposed and pending changes. In this series, we’ll bring together former agency staff and civil society organizations working on the ground to help explain potential changes, and answer your questions about what might show up in casework.
As always, we are on Team Legislative Branch, and these events — like the rest of our work — will be nonpartisan. We’ll kick off with events on FEMA and SNAP below, and stay tuned for more announcements throughout the summer. We would also like to thank Dana Chisnell for her hard work helping to make this series possible!
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
Upcoming Casework Webinars, Panels, and a Reception
Anticipating Casework I: Preparing for FEMA Changes
Tuesday, June 10, 1-2 PM (Webinar)
In this nonpartisan webinar, we will discuss the current landscape of proposed and implemented changes to FEMA and other federal disaster agencies to help caseworkers understand the evolving landscape of federal disaster aid to help them effectively assist constituents in the future.
Anticipating Casework II: Preparing for SNAP Changes
Friday, June 13, 1-2 PM (Webinar)
In this nonpartisan webinar, we will discuss the changes to SNAP included in the current reconciliation package, and other developments happening with USDA and state-level SNAP programs to anticipate future trends in SNAP-related casework.
Closing the Feedback Loop Through Casework
Tuesday, June 24, 12-1 PM (Longworth 1539 + Virtual)
Casework teams have rich insight into program implementation (including direct agency contacts) that can be an important source of information for legislation and oversight, and legislative teams can help contextualize and address the systemic challenges that bog down casework teams. New tools from the House are poised to supercharge this relationship.
Celebrating Casework Reception
Tuesday, June 24, 6-8 PM (Location TBA)
Join POPVOX Foundation and friends for a reception to celebrate the vital work of constituent services staff! Meet other caseworkers, legislative staff, support offices, and civil society organizations championing casework at a relaxed happy hour. Bonus points (and a special icebreaker activity) for casework and legislative staff from the same office attending together.
Hearings Roundup
Senate Veterans Affairs
House Veterans Affairs
House Appropriations
Previously: Oversight Hearing: National Guard and Reserves Forces
Previously: Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Member Day
House Education and Workforce
Wednesday, June 4, 10:15 AM ET: Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Department of Education
Casework News
A group of 15 Democratic Senators released a letter to OPM’s acting director asking for more information regarding its actions to fire Congressional Liaison staff.
During a Senate HELP Committee hearing, Senator Tim Kaine [D, VA] drew on his casework team’s experience helping constituents get basic questions answered by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Always great to see casework inform oversight work!
Writeup of constituent services progress from Congressman Latimer’s [D, NY] team, including returning over $589,000 in federal benefits to constituents.
Also a narrative writeup of the process of helping a veteran with a tax issue from Rep Webster’s [R, FL] team.
A surprisingly thoughtful take on the challenges of serving as a Member, including staff recruitment and retention, navigating disasters, navigating House rules, and ramping up constituent services quickly after a transition between Members.
Great to see a nominee (former Rep. Billy Long, nominated to lead the IRS) talk about his previous experiences handling casework related to the agency he may now lead.
An aide to Rep. Nadler [D, NY] was temporarily detained in a confrontation with federal agents outside of the Congressman’s office last week.
Agency News
SSA
SSA’s new anti-fraud checks on claims made over the phone were found to only detect fraud in two cases out of 110,000.
The House’s budget bill has a “senior bonus” which aims to provide Social Security recipients with additional support.
Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano emphasized stability, AI innovation, and customer service improvements in a recent meeting with agency managers.
Immigration
The Department of State submitted notification of its plans for reorganization to Congress on May 29. The plans include significant changes to the organizational chart, the elimination of CARE, and the establishment of an office of “remigration” under PRM.
State also issued guidance to consulates and embassies to pause interviews for student visas while the department establishes a process for vetting student social media accounts.
The Department of Homeland Security appears to be ramping up arrests of immigrants in or near immigration courts.
The tech industry is feeling the impact of increased requests for evidence (RFEs) from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), including delayed processing, increased costs, and workers withdrawing from offered positions.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a move to offer free access to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to all states.
The Wall Street Journal has an interactive story detailing the use of private contractors in the detention and deportation process — may be helpful for offices in locating specific constituents.
The Justice Department has begun charging undocumented immigrants who fail to register with USCIS.
VA
Internal documents from VA show significant backlogs or staffing challenges for veterans seeking healthcare across the country, including shortages of VA police, acute care facility closures, and delayed radiation exam results.
Senator Blumenthal [D, CT] pressed the VA on its slow rollout of benefits under the Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Act, including the Act’s provisions to streamline the process of accessing community care.
The VA is reinstating mandatory overtime for Veterans Benefits Administration staff to address a backlog of over 200,000 unprocessed disability and pension claims.
FEMA
An internal FEMA memo and subsequent Congressional letters raise concerns about the agency’s ability to respond to disasters in the upcoming hurricane season, especially staffing challenges for the agency’s Mount Weather Emergency Center, the Office of Response and Recovery, and the agency’s ability to make timely payments through the Flood Insurance program.
States and municipalities currently handling disaster cleanup are also reporting delays in Federal emergency disaster declarations that would unlock FEMA assistance.
Federal Employees
Very helpful writeup from Protect Democracy’s “Dear Civil Servant” series on understanding recent rulings pausing agency RIFs and closures.
The pending reconciliation package has several provisions that would impact federal employees, including allowing new employees to opt out of FERS benefits.
Five pending bills (besides the Reconciliation package) would impact federal employees.
Federal employees with significantly younger or older spouses face unique retirement planning considerations, including how FEHB coordinates with Medicare, how the 10-year age gap rule can lower required withdrawals, and the “widow’s tax penalty.”
CR disrupts Reserves schedules
The year-long CR poses a number of challenges for military reserve forces, including difficulty recruiting and retaining reservists who cannot predict far enough in advance whether they will have orders to serve during specific time periods.
Impact of military promotional holds
New GAO report details the impact of military general and flag officer promotion holds in 2023 on military readiness and military families.
USDA plans to modernize farmer-facing applications
The USDA announced an effort to digitize and simplify the farm loan process, and consolidate farmer-facing applications and benefits into a one-stop-shop at farmer.gov.
Speaking of a one-stop shop
Hawaii launched a new consolidated state benefits portal, a single-sign-on website offering Hawaii residents access to 96 state agency apps.
If you’re not getting airline-related casework…
You might be soon: continuing problems with air traffic control in Newark have a ripple effect across the rest of the US, especially in the busy summer travel season. Now might be a great time to brush up on how to best handle DOT complaints.
Nerd reading alert
Get ready for a wonderful rabbit hole: our friend Kevin Hawickhorst at the Foundation for American Innovation is launching a new series on “Uncle Sam’s Problem Children,” looking at the five types of programs and agency structures most likely to cause legal battles and other oversight headaches.
Nerd reading part II
GAO released its annual updates to the “Green Book,” AKA Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government. This is more interesting than it sounds, we promise: it’s the handbook that GAO issues to agency leaders on preventing improper payments and managing waste, fraud, and abuse.
