Part I: What is Congressional Casework?
Download (PDF)
As then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy noted in September of 2023,¹ casework is one of the few commonalities among every Member of Congress, in both chambers, and any party. In a relatively gridlocked Congress, many departing Members cite casework as one of the most rewarding parts of serving in Congress, as well as one of the areas where they can have the greatest impact.²
As defined in both chambers’ Ethics manuals,³ casework is the practice of “assisting in the resolution of the problems that are an inevitable by-product of government regulation, [serving] as a facilitator, or an ombudsman.” The House Ethics Manual (2008 edition) puts a finer point on what this means when it notes that:
“Pursuant to long-standing guidance, it is generally permissible for Members (and staff acting on their behalf) to:
Request information or status reports;
Urge prompt consideration of a matter based on the merits of the case;
Arrange appointments;
Express judgment on a matter—subject to the ex parte communication rules; and
Ask for reconsideration, based on law and regulation, or administrative and other decisions.”
In addition to these formally outlined responsibilities, caseworkers also help constituents understand agency policy and communications, proactively communicate policy deadlines and updates, refer constituents to other levels of government, and provide a listening ear to serve as the human, accessible face of a large bureaucracy.
While caseloads vary between Members, every senator and representative has at least a portion of their staff dedicated to constituent services.⁴ These staff are almost exclusively based in district and state offices where they can be directly accessible to constituents as opposed to legislative and communications staff who are almost exclusively based in DC. Although each chamber sets general ethical guidelines for casework and provides general support and training resources, caseworker hiring and training is handled by individual offices, leading to a significant degree of variability in casework practices.⁵
Resources to carry out casework in Member offices come from Members’ personal office budgets (the Members’ Representational Allowance or MRA in the House, and the Senators’ Official Personnel and Office Expense Account or SOPOEA in the Senate). The last several decades have seen a decline in staffing levels for Congressional offices relative to the rapid growth of the US population: each House office represents 760,000 constituents, with a staff of at maximum twenty people, and the Senate remains fixed at 100 Senate offices to serve 331 million constituents.⁶
In general, offices perform casework only for their own constituents, although Members have discretion to determine who counts as a constituent for the purposes of casework, especially in the case of foreign citizens who request assistance.⁷ Caseworkers serve constituents regardless of political party or citizenship status, and frequently build working relationships with other casework teams within their state or regional delegations or across the country — a rare instance of truly nonpartisan collaboration in Congress.
Caseworkers handle inquiries on any agency or independent office in federal jurisdiction, but most casework inquiries center around the most high-volume federal agencies and programs: Social Security, the IRS, the Veterans Administration (VA), and the handful of agencies involved in the immigration process usually make up the bulk of offices’ caseloads. By sending formal inquiries to agencies to call attention to aspects of a particular case, obtain information on a constituent’s case, and help constituents understand programs and their rights and responsibilities, caseworkers are often able to help cut through bureaucratic “red tape” and achieve substantial successes on behalf of constituents.
“The burden is off my shoulders, you know, I feel so much relief.”
Offices generally organize casework in one of two ways: either hiring casework specialists who handle all inquiries related to a certain agency or issue area, or hiring casework generalists who handle any incoming case, regardless of agency. Caseworkers are normally trained by senior district staff within their own offices, supplemented by programming from the House Chief Administrative Officer, Senate Education and Learning, Congressional Research Service, and federal agencies themselves.
Even for generalist offices, the complexity of both VA/military and immigration casework mean that these two areas require some specialization among caseworkers. As one caseworker in a Democratic House office quipped:
“You can’t be a jack-of-all-trades and do immigration casework.”
Anecdotally, both of these types of casework often attract caseworkers with personal connections to constituents served by them, including immigrants, children of immigrants, veterans, and family members of veterans.
Casework Pre-Afghanistan
By the beginning of 2021, caseworkers responsible for VA/military and immigration portfolios had already handled some types of cases that would prove relevant to Afghanistan casework, notably:
Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) cases
Visas for Afghans who served with the US military, covered in more detail below.
Asylum and refugee cases
Cases for constituents in and out of the US regarding refugee and asylum claims. Cases often include liaising between the agencies and petitioners (and family members) to coordinate details, including documents and appointments.
Repatriation cases
Facilitating the return of American citizens to the US. Repatriation cases involve liaising with the State Department to identify and locate American citizens in the crisis area, and helping coordinate with those constituents and the department to facilitate their exit from the country.⁹
Military cases
Casework involving members of the military and military families, including reserves and National Guard. These may include anything from military discipline, military pay and benefits, promotions, basic training, travel orders, whistleblowing, records, commendations, and more. While the content of individual cases is hugely varied, many caseworkers working on military cases are either military veterans themselves or connected to the military in some other way (e.g., children or spouses of veterans).
Disaster casework
Handling support for a state or district in the midst of a natural disaster (or man-made crisis like a government shutdown). These cases may include helping communicate available disaster benefits, tracking and monitoring disaster claims, and helping serve as a central clearinghouse for reliable information on multiple agency programs at different levels of government.¹⁰
In addition to these specific experiences, the COVID-19 pandemic was also a high-pressure test for casework teams. Unique in its own right, pandemic casework taught offices to pivot on the fly, rapidly responding to high-volume, high-urgency inquiries from constituents attempting to access pandemic benefits and programs, seek or verify information on the COVID-19 crisis, and liaise with agencies that were also foundering in the midst of a chaotic switch to remote work.
Normally, a significant geographic and operational disconnection between state-based casework teams and DC-based legislative teams can be a hindrance to effective collaboration.¹¹ However, for some casework teams, the COVID-19 pandemic represented a high-water mark for their relationships with DC counterparts. The volume and urgency of pandemic casework meant that some DC-based legislative staff were internally detailed to assist with casework for the first time, developing a greater appreciation for the programmatic and emotional skills required to do good casework. The sudden widespread adoption of video conferencing tools like Zoom and asynchronous communications platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and others contributed to a widespread shift in norms within Congress toward methods of communication that were more accessible for distributed casework teams.
The pandemic-related shift to Zoom and Teams also saw the development of new ways to coordinate between offices. Prior to 2020, caseworkers primarily coordinated between offices through 1:1 relationships, text chains, or on the House side, through large listservs of hundreds of caseworkers. These listservs were places for caseworkers to ask general questions, solicit advice, or share contact information for agency liaisons. However, they were often clogged with repetitive requests and reply-alls. The widespread adoption of Teams allowed offices to develop more responsive group chats to share information without email.
But while the pandemic was a learning experience for casework teams, it also compounded some preexisting problems. High caseloads, high-stakes casework, and agency chaos meant that by the summer of 2021, many experienced caseworkers had already been operating at or above normal capacity for a year and a half, experiencing personal burnout and compounded trauma and fatigue.¹² Worsening political tension, made especially visible in the wake of the January 6th attack on the Capitol, also led to more negative interactions with constituents. Anecdotally, caseworkers reported a distinct worsening in the tenor of many constituent interactions, with constituents being less patient, more likely to escalate quickly, and more likely to be rude, abusive, and threatening over the phone.¹³
For new offices and new caseworkers, disruptions to Congressional office workflows during the pandemic also exacerbated the uneven playing field of training for new casework hires. Not being able to learn from experienced caseworkers in person or attend in-person agency training conferences was a major setback to many offices and caseworkers’ professional development. In some offices, that further increased the burden on experienced staff to more closely manage or pick up extra cases from new and inexperienced caseworkers.
¹ Anne Meeker, “Congressional casework is ready for innovation,” POPVOX Foundation (October 2, 2023)
² Mark Sobol and Leonard Steinhorn, “Congress at a Crossroads,” US Former Members of Congress Association (July 2020)
³ “Casework Basics: Definition and Rules,” POPVOX Foundation (January 9, 2023)
⁴ Anne Meeker. “Casework: What We Do and Don’t Know,” POPVOX Foundation (April 27, 2023)
⁵ Sarah Eckman and R. Eric Petersen, “Casework in Congressional Offices: Frequently Asked Questions,” Congressional Research Service (January 25, 2021)
⁶ Kevin Kosar, “What is Congressional Capacity and Why Does it Matter?” Understanding Congress (podcast) American Enterprise Institute (December 4, 2023)
⁷ “Casework in Congressional Offices: Frequently Asked Questions,” Congressional Research Service (January 25, 2021)
⁸ “Veteran Credits Rep. Seth Moulton for Family’s Rescue in Afghanistan,” WBZ News, Boston (September 1, 2021)
⁹ “Casework Basics: Supporting Constituents in Overseas Crisis Situations,” POPVOX Foundation (July 2023)
¹⁰ Kathy Goldschmidt and Bradley Sinkaus, “The Future of Constituent Engagement: Coronavirus, Congress, and Constituent Communications,” Congressional Management Foundation (August 13, 2020)
¹¹ Even on the timing of the legislative calendar challenges intra-office collaboration: DC-based teams are busiest when Congress is in session, but district-based teams are busiest when Congress is out of session and the Members return to their states and districts for local events and convenings.
¹² “Casework Basics: Burnout and Care” (webinar), POPVOX Foundation (July 28, 2023)
¹³ Sean Newhouse, “Angry callers are threatening Congress. These interns are on the front lines,” RollCall (July 28, 2022)
