Every call I’ve been on over the last week has included at least one person apologizing for sneezing, coughing, and sniffling. We’re all just trying to make it through to a holiday break — hang in there!

I wanted to close out the year with an enormous thank you to everyone who joined us for a webinar, opened and shared the newsletter, read one of our reports, told us about your corner of the casework world, and, most of all, every one of you for doing the hard work to help constituents. You rock.

Our virtual office will be closed next week through New Year’s Day, so we are wishing everyone a restful holiday season. We’ll see you in 2025!

If you have questions about our work or suggestions for how we can be helpful, 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

Calling district Staff Assistants

Encourage your district Staff Assistants to join the Modernization Staff Association’s virtual roundtable for district Staff Assistants and other junior staff in the House and Senate on Wednesday, Dec. 18, from 2-3 PM EST via Teams! Staff assistants can network with fellow district junior staff and share best practices. RSVP here to get the Teams invite! Reach out to ananda.bhatia@mail.house.gov with any questions. We hear that MSA also might be looking for a superstar district Staff Assistant to join their leadership team…again, questions and suggestions to Ananda.

American Ingenuity Award update

If you self-nominated or nominated a colleague for the American Ingenuity Award recognizing the efforts of caseworkers and volunteers who participated in Operation Allies Welcome and Operation Enduring Welcome, you/they should have received a note from #AfghanEvac with some additional information this week. Let me know if you did not.

Casework news

ICYMI: the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy hosted a panel on Casework and Oversight. We were honored to be included in the group!
Georgetown researcher Lorelei Kelly has a nice writeup of modernization efforts in the last Congress, including on constituent engagement.
High transition season, with some writeups of where casework goes in the FL Senate delegation right now, a legislative achievement report from Sen. Mitt Romney [R, UT], and big promises from incoming Members to prioritize casework.

Agency News

Army cuts credentialing benefit

The Army announced new restrictions on its Credentialing Assistance program that provided support for service members seeking credentials like pilot licenses, CDLs, personal trainer certifications, and IT/cybersecurity programs to upskill and support transitions to civilian careers. Available assistance will be reduced from $4,000/year to $2,000/year, and commissioned officers will no longer be eligible for the program, among other changes. Army leadership cited cost as the primary reason for the cuts.

Two I-485 changes

USCIS announced a few changes to the I-485 program: requiring medical examination and vaccination records to be submitted along with the I-485 form, and revisions to the form itself, including clarification around public charge.

Also, more HB-2 visas for FY25

USCIS also announced that it would make available an additional 65,000 HB-2 visas for FY25, consistent with previous years.

VA OIG says staff incorrectly processed presumptive disability claims

A December VA OIG report says that VA staff incorrectly requested additional medical review or evidence demonstrating service connection for conditions assumed to be service-connected under the PACT Act. The team estimates a minimum of 870 veterans affected.

Watch out for holiday scams!

IRS has tips on identifying and avoiding common holiday scams, and some best practices to keep personal information safe while shopping online. Would make a lovely PSA!

Senate Majority Leader commits to a WEP/GPO repeal vote

One step closer to the end of the Social Security Fairness Act saga.

New study on flexible interviews to make SNAP easier

Great survey and data here on how states handle the interview requirement for SNAP benefits, and what policy changes increase SNAP uptake.

Good news for the holidays: Agencies reduced improper payments this year

The rate of improper payments across government decreased to 3.97% in 2024 (every little bit helps!). The last time that rate was under 4% was in 2013.

House Select Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic releases report

We were disappointed to see that the report didn’t cover the impact of federal agency slowdowns/shutdowns on Congressional casework workloads, but there was some fascinating material (around pages 140-160 of the doc’s page numbers, not the PDF) on federal and state agency responses to the pandemic.

USCIS hiring and staffing questions for 2025 and beyond

Insight into USCIS’s efforts to improve services by staffing up and improving communication between frontline staff and management.

Ramaswamy signals legacy tech and combatting fraud are priorities for DOGE

Goodbye to COBOL on mainframes? Incoming DOGE co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy discusses legacy tech and data silos (which we all know contribute to casework…) as priorities for the new year.

Yes to a direct tax filing system, just not this one?

Last week, 30 House Republicans signed on to a letter to President-elect Trump asking to discontinue the IRS Direct File program. Incoming DOGE co-chair Elon Musk has previously signaled an interest in developing a mobile tax filing app. We’ll be watching to see where this one lands.

HVAC Chair Bost [R, IL] introduces Complete the Mission Act

The bill would codify current access standards for Community Care, and require the VA to publish wait times for all medical facilities.

President-elect Trump names new SSA Commissioner

President-elect Trump has named financial services executive Frank Bisignano to serve as the new SSA Commissioner. The position requires Senate confirmation.

You should follow David Camp on LinkedIn

The National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives head always has up-to-date news on changes to SSA policies, including this great roundup of recent SSA changes to overpayment waiver policies, and an op-ed on the need for more interoperable medical record systems to facilitate SSA claims.

Good example of a mental health crisis explainer

While the specifics of this particular article are for the greater Cleveland area (go Cavs), this is a helpful example of resources and ways to think about handling a call from a constituent having a mental health crisis. It’s always worth connecting with your local police department and other social services to see what they recommend.

Newsletter: Final agency news roundup of 2024