20 ModCom recommendations to strengthen casework
House Select Committee brought attention to congressional casework
Constituent thank-you note for casework service sent to the office of Rep. Seth Moulton [D, MA]
Since 2019, the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress (“ModCom”) has been a bright point of hope for Congress-watchers in need of optimism. This goes double for many overlooked people who contribute to keeping the wheels of Congress turning, often without much visibility or thanks, who had the startling and gratifying experience of having sitting Members of Congress look them in the eye and ask, what do you need?
One group that received unaccustomed attention from the Select Committee is Congressional caseworkers — those professional staff, mostly in district offices, who do some of the most direct, accountable work in Congress to solve constituent problems with the federal bureaucracy. A July 15, 2022 hearing on “Constituent Services: Building a More Customer-Friendly Congress” highlighted this work, including challenges faced by caseworkers and some potential solutions.
Over four years, the ModCom has produced almost 200 recommendations, some of which would have direct and immediate impact on the workflow and experience of both caseworkers and the constituents they serve. These represent incredible progress, but there is still much work to be done. Here are twenty ModCom recs that are especially relevant for caseworkers:
Leveling the playing field from day one
Every constituent in America deserves high-quality representation from their Members of Congress, including a professional casework team to help navigate difficulties with federal agencies. However, many constituents are underserved by casework teams that do not have access to the best resources, information, and communities of practice to help lay the groundwork for providing excellent constituent service—especially while new Member offices are getting set up.
ModCom’s recommendations will help level the playing field for Congressional offices, making sure that new offices have the resources they need to ensure continuity in casework operations and hit the ground running, and that all offices start out with the same information on agency contacts and support resources.
Recommendation # 149: Ready for day one program
“The House, where feasible, should expand existing authorities to expedite the process for members-elect to access district office space and begin office set up.”
Ownership: Committee on House Administration, Chief Administrative Officer
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation # 150: Agency casework contact lists and privacy release form policies from CRS:
“CRS should provide regularly updated and complete information on local agency casework contacts and agency digital privacy release form policies”
Ownership: Congressional Research Service
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation #194: At the beginning of a new Congress, House business support offices and agencies should hold an “Open-House” to provide members and staff the opportunity to personally meet with institutional offices and staff and learn about the services they offer
Ownership: Likely the CAO or CHA coordinating with individual agencies including CRS, GAO, Clerk, HIR, EAP, ODI, Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds, etc.
Implementation status: Not implemented
Notes: District staff miss much of the in-person advertising performed by many of these support agencies throughout the year. We particularly hope that there is an option for a “virtual open house” for district staff to have the same opportunity as their DC counterparts.
Professionalizing casework staff
Casework staff often handle heavy caseloads, life-and-death cases, and constituents in serious distress, exposing them to many of the same mental health risks as first responders or similar medical and social work professionals. But despite the gravity of their work, a common theme in talking to caseworkers is the extent to which casework as a practice is cobbled together from a handful of resources, tips from other caseworkers, informal resources passed around listservs and group chats, and improvisation. This is particularly exacerbated by frequent staff turnover, driven by a tough working environment and wages and benefits that do not promote staff retention.
ModCom’s recommendations to expand the support services available to district staff, provide more opportunities for networking and professional development, and study how additional recommendations could improve staff retention both contribute to a better work environment for caseworkers will all contribute to more professional caseworkers who can provide higher-quality service to constituents.
Recommendation #105: Supporting the Office of Employee Assistance: The Office of Employee Assistance should seek to retain a diverse workforce, offer access to bilingual services, and retain staff capable of providing various forms of trauma services.
Ownership: Office of Employee Assistance (additional funding through the Appropriations Subcommittee on Legislative Branch)
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation #105: The House Task Force on the Workforce should examine the benefits, professional development opportunities, and other resources, that will improve district staff retention and recommend updates.
Ownership: House Task Force on the Workforce
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation #148: Information sharing between district offices: The CAO should facilitate opportunities for staff that work directly with constituents to connect and share best practices.
Ownership: CAO
Implementation status: Not implemented [note: while ModCom notes this recommendation as not implemented, we would classify it as partially-implemented: CAO has recently piloted ‘fly-in days’ for district staff, including caseworkers, that start to address this need; additional work to help offices cover the cost and provide more opportunities for caseworkers specifically will be helpful]
Better tools for the job
In any industry, investing in the right tools is essential to get the job done. Several of ModCom’s recommendations touch on expanding and modernizing the toolkit available to caseworkers, from the tech platforms and tools to manage cases, to the House’s ability to ask for constituent input and feedback, to caseworkers’ ability to partner and host events with local organizations.
Recommendation #156: Technology solutions to help offices better serve constituents: The CAO should develop or provide optional in-house technology solutions to district offices to improve casework and other services.
Ownership: CAO and HIR
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation #189: The House should create a Digital Service Advisory Board to help plan and prioritize the work of the House Digital Service.
Ownership: CAO and HIR
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation #179: The House should develop and provide offices with optional tools for surveying and tracking their constituent’s ‘customer service’ experience.
Ownership: CAO and HIR
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation #153: Connecting constituents with community organizations and resources: The House should update and provide clear ethics guidelines to allow district offices to direct constituents to appropriate community organizations, resources, and services.
Ownership: Committee on House Ethics
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation #154: Facilitating constituent service events: The House should provide flexibility within House Rule 24 to allow district offices to cosponsor constituent service events with non-governmental organizations to provide information and other resources to constituents.
Ownership: House Committee on Ethics
Implementation status: Not implemented
Data, security, and stewarding constituent information
When a constituent signs a Privacy Act Release form requesting assistance with a federal agency, their data becomes the personal property of the Member of Congress working on their behalf. This is an awesome responsibility, and casework staff need the tools and training to live up to it, as well as to provide excellent constituent service in an increasingly digital environment.
Recommendation #50: To help streamline casework requests and help constituents better access federal agencies and resources, the House should implement a secure document management system, and provide digital forms and templates for public access.
Ownership: CAO, HIR
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation #54: Expand the use of digital signatures for a majority of House business, including constituent communications.
Ownership: CAO, HIR
Implementation status: Partially implemented
Recommendation #155: Constituent control over their data: The House should ensure that constituent data and records related to casework are maintained, transferred, or destroyed according to a constituent’s preferences.
Ownership: CAO
Implementation status: Not implemented
Disaster response
As we saw repeatedly in the pandemic, when it comes to the vast federal government, there are no central points of contact who can bring together accurate and timely information from multiple federal agencies at a local level—except Members of Congress. In a crisis, casework teams need to be able to continue to operate, which requires having continuity plans in place, as well as being able to tap into surge capacity to handle a wave of incoming constituent demand. Beyond providing better constituent service in the moment of greatest need, committing to smooth disaster plans will also help with staff retention by mitigating the surge workflow that contributes to caseworker burnout.
Recommendation #46: Each office should have a continuity of operations plan, including minimum safety requirements and an emergency communications plan, that is made available to all staff so offices continue functioning for the public.
Ownership: CAO, Committee on House Administration, US Capitol Police
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation #151: Additional staff capacity to support disaster response: The House should provide resources and staffing flexibility to district offices in responding to a federally declared disaster.
Ownership: CAO
Implementation status: Not implemented
Casework and oversight
When we talk to caseworkers about what they want to see change in the future of casework, we hear one thing repeated: we want to do more. Caseworkers develop deep expertise on how policy impacts people, how to talk about policy in concrete terms, and factors affecting a community’s needs and well-being—all vital for legislating in the 21st century.
ModCom’s recommendations to support evidence-based policymaking, including facilitating ways for staff in different offices to collaborate, aggregating casework data from multiple Member offices, and making bipartisan oversight training available to more staff, will all help build the pipeline to bring casework capacity full into the business of Congress.
Recommendation #172: The House should develop an optional system to allow offices to share anonymized constituent casework data and aggregate that information to identify trends and systemic issues to better serve constituents.
Ownership: CAO, HIR, possibly GAO
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation #126: Technology tools to enable collaboration: The House should offer technology tools to facilitate member collaboration on legislation and issues of mutual interest.
Ownership: CAO, HIR
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation #142: Congressional Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking: Congress should establish a bipartisan, bicameral Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking to encourage and facilitate better use of data in the legislative process.
Ownership: House Leadership
Implementation status: Not implemented
Recommendation #143: Optional bipartisan oversight training: The House should offer and support optional programs for members and staff to learn best-practices for conducting bipartisan, fact-based oversight
Ownership: CAO
Implementation status: Not implemented
