Newsletter: Liaisons Leaving? Grants Questions?
When I’m talking to someone about our Casework Navigator program, I always use the same phrase: we aim to elevate the importance of casework, and support caseworkers. Part of that is by developing resources to help casework teams — like our brand-new Casework for Journalists guide, or today’s monster roundup of agency news— and part is by talking to casework teams about what’s happening and developing recommendations for Congress to make casework more effective and easier on the people doing it.
In that vein, from some recent conversations with caseworkers around the country, there are three big things that I’m tracking right now — if you have thoughts on any of these, I would love to hear from you.
Are you seeing Congressional liaisons for agencies in your portfolio or region leaving, retiring, or being terminated or reassigned? If so, how is this impacting your ability to work cases?
Understanding that a lot of requests you’re getting right now are about EOs, how are you deciding what counts as casework vs. opinions or policy? Is this changing for your team?
If your team does work to support grant applicants or CPF/CDS recipients, are you seeing grants you have previously supported being frozen or pulled back?
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
Casework for Journalists
While the first few weeks of the new Administration have had their challenges for casework teams, there has also been one upside: more attention from journalists on the power and impact of Congressional casework services.
Our team is delighted to share our new Casework for Journalists guide to help DC and local media outlets understand and cover the impact of constituent services. We hope this will also be a resource for your comms colleagues as they pitch stories about your teams’ great work.
My colleague Gab Schneider and I will also host an “Ask Me Anything” session for journalists on March 4, talking about how casework happens and what Congressional offices can and cannot accomplish through casework. Send any local press our way!
Casework for Journalists
This guide is a quick reference for journalists covering casework stories, covering typical Congressional office procedures for casework, the history and legal background for casework, and questions to ask around specific pitches or stories.
AMA for Journalists on Congressional Casework
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 from 2-3 PM EST via Zoom
Learn how casework stories can reveal systemic issues affecting your community and spotlight rare moments of bipartisan cooperation. This AMA-style training is designed for journalists covering Congress and the federal government who want to deepen their reporting toolkit.
Casework News
Professional development opportunity! The Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley is hosting its Data Skills for Congress course again: this year, it will run two separate sessions of its free course for Congressional staff on how to create, find, and use data in Congress. I’m teaching one session on modernization, AI, and district work — come hang out with me! Applications are open until April.
We’re having a lot of conversations about federal spending these days — so it might be worth brushing up on appropriations and how they can be a tool to address casework problems. Here’s our Appropriations for Caseworkers training.
The concept of “moral injury,” or the psychological distress that occurs when your values are violated, might resonate with a lot of casework teams. This article has an overview of the idea, and a look into how some professionals handle it.
Reddit is increasingly a source of traffic to Congressional casework teams.
It’s passport season already?? Rep. Shontel Brown [D, OH] advertises her team’s upcoming passport fair.
A nice writeup of mobile office hours from Rep. Jordan’s [R, OH] team in Bellefontaine, and a reminder that there are still demands on Congressional offices beyond dealing with DOGE.
A lovely LTE from an Iowa constituent about the value of asking for casework support.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s [D, NY] recent webinar on ICE has sparked some controversy.
House staff: the Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds is hosting a fireside chat with Enron Whistleblower Sherron Watkins on March 7, 2-3pm ET.
Agency News
PSA from TAS on disasters and tax filing deadlines
TAS has an explainer for constituents in federally-declared disaster areas on relief options, including tax-free retirement distributions, delayed filing/penalties, casualty loss deductions, and more.
Disaster recovery and support changes
Several changes on the horizon for disaster support agencies: cuts to employees working on climate issues are expected at FEMA, FEMA has stopped work to develop new building codes, and HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (which pays to rebuild homes after disasters) is expected to be cut by around 80%. In other FEMA-related news, this was an interesting vision to reorganize FEMA from the Rainey Center.
Trump Administration claims the ability to fire Administrative Law Judges at will
In a letter to Senator Grassley [R, IA], the Trump Administration’s acting Solicitor General noted that the Administration holds that it has the authority to fire Administrative Law Judges at will, despite statutory protections requiring a reason for their removal. This has huge implications for many areas of casework involving higher-level appeals, including SSA, VA, and immigration cases.
20 immigration judges fired
Speaking of judges: the Trump Administration fired 20 immigration judges of the 700 under EOIR, including several judges who had yet to be sworn in. EOIR’s backlog currently stands at 3.7 million cases.
For people renewing their visa stamps abroad
Immigration lawyer Emily Neumann has some updates to keep in mind, including that dropbox eligibility has been cut from 48 to 12 months, and in-person interviews are now required for visas expired for more than one year.
TPS ended for Haitian immigrants
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem revoked an 18-month extension to TPS for Haitian immigrants granted under the Biden Administration, meaning TPS will expire for almost 500,000 Haitian immigrants in August.
New Executive Order ends eligibility for benefits for undocumented immigrants
Undocumented immigrants are, in general, not eligible for federal benefits, so this order will likely target emergency exceptions, or interact with withdrawals of TPS status for immigrants of certain nationalities.
Afghan casework
The Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) has been instructed to prepare plans to close down operations for Secretary of State Marco Rubio. CARE currently oversees processing centers that temporarily house refugees and visa-holders waiting for resettlement in the US.
Nice student loans explainer
For offices getting calls about cleared debts suddenly showing up again, or errors in reckoning payments, this is a nice explainer (that also recommends certain situations where constituents should reach out to your offices).
Paused sexual assault prevention programs at DOD
Rep. Sara Jacobs’ [D, CA] office flagged in an oversight letter that the DOD’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response programs appear to be paused, with no updates on when they may be restarted.
USPS changes
The Trump Administration is expected to fire the USPS governing board and place the agency under control of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is also stepping down.
SSA shuts down one of its busiest hearing offices
SSA announced that it would shut down its hearing office in White Plains, New York, which currently handles more than 2,000 disability cases per year and has a 2,000-case backlog. Workers and pending hearings will be reassigned to other offices in the tri-state area. SSA also moved to protect some of its probationary employees by offering them transfers to other offices.
Firings and federal employees
GovExec has a running list of probationary employee firings at various agencies. Federal News Network has a guide to benefits that fired probationary employees may still be eligible for, including 18 months of health care, unemployment insurance, and appeals rights. This is also a great more in-depth guide to UI from a former DOL appointee, and there’s more from CivilServiceStrong too. For feds in Virginia, the Virginia Governor’s office also has a list of constituent service resources.
Helpful resource from Partnership for Public Service on employee rights
Nonpartisan PPS has a great explainer for federal employees on some frequently misunderstood elements of federal civil service protection, including due process, adverse actions, and union representation.
Plans to cut employee spending cards to a $1 limit
GSA employees and contractors had their spending card authorizations reduced to $1 this month; WIRED reports that DOGE plans to roll out the policy to other federal agencies. In previous government shutdowns, the inability to pay or reimburse federal expenses has caused some casework inquiries, especially for positions like federal air marshalls.
Got whistleblowers?
We’re hearing that offices are receiving more whistleblower outreach than ever before. As always, we would recommend reviewing resources from the House Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds, but for another great resource, PPS also has a rundown of the process for whistleblowers.
MSPB has a temporary quorum again
A judge temporarily blocked the Trump Administration’s firing of MSPB board chair Cathy Harris, meaning the three-member board has a quorum again. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March 3.
DOD personnel on leave can still apply for deferred resignation
DCPAS notes that DOD Employees who were on leave for the period while the Deferred Resignation Program was open can contact their HR team to see if they can still opt into the deferred resignation — but they note that eligibility is still determined based on whether the employee is in a critical/exempted role.
DOD issues guidance for service members discharged over vaccines
The important part here is how impacted service members will find out about their options: people involuntarily separated will be contacted directly by the Secretary of their branch. People who voluntarily resigned or let their service lapse will not be directly contacted — but may still submit a written statement that they chose to leave rather than be vaccinated under the mandate.
Reduction in TRICARE pharmacies
A recent GAO study found that TRICARE’s pharmacy benefits program recently redacted the number of covered pharmacies by 25%, leading up to 380,000 beneficiaries to change pharmacies. GAO raises questions about the accuracy of contractors’ estimates of pharmacy coverage.
No cuts to 9/11 responders program
The White House confirmed to the NY delegation over the weekend that it would not proceed with planned cuts to the World Trade Center Healthcare Program.
Nerd time: visualization of the most-used gov websites
The Data Analytics Project has a super cool chart of the most-used federal websites. Surprise, they track on to casework topics.
Watch out for incorrect information about DOGE cuts
With emotions running high, it can be easy for rumors about cuts to programs to spread quickly — for example, a rumor in Northeast OH about an FBI presentation on scams targeting seniors being cut by DOGE quickly made the rounds on social media. Helping fact check and circulate correct information is one place where Congressional offices can be helpful.
