Newsletter: Keeping Track of Agency Changes
I know it can sometimes feel like casework gets overlooked in all of the DC drama — so with that in mind, it was great to see some Representatives at the Committee on House Administration’s Member Day come in with direct asks about strengthening casework, including allowing flexibility for nonprofit referrals, better disaster casework support, and scaled funding for offices with large territories or high cost-of-living. We also took the opportunity to flag some of our team’s recommendations for strengthening casework and House operations here. As always, if you’d like to talk through any of this, I’m always happy to chat.
Today, we’re trying out a new format for our agency news roundup to make it easier to skim updates related to your portfolio — and we unpack some of the question marks around what’s going on at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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 News
Great coverage from Justin Papp at Roll Call on how casework teams are experiencing a surge in demand for constituent services.
The Washington Post covers how Elon Musk has offered Senators a direct line of contact to resolve issues related to DOGE cuts.
I spoke with Tom Temin at FNN’s Federal Drive about the impact of Exec-branch reforms on casework.
Tom Temin’s on a roll: Nice interview on Federal Drive with Rep. Glenn Ivey [D, MD] on casework for federal employees.
Our AMA for Journalists recording is up! And the written guide explaining everything a reporter needs to know about casework is here as a resource, too.
Shout-out to the team at Rep. George Latimer’s [D, NY] office for the creative problem-solving to find county office space for a Social Security hearing on operations that would have been disrupted by the agency’s closure of the White Plains office. This is imaginative, effective casework.
Applause to the constituent services team from Sen. Ossoff’s [D, GA] office who handled a tough situation at a mobile office hours event with grace.
A reminder that casework occurs at the discretion of the Member: Rep. Van Orden [R, WI] stated that he would refer a veteran who reached out to him on LinkedIn to DOGE for improper use of time.
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
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.
Agency News
CFPB and Congressional inquiries
There have been some conflicting reports about whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is able to handle inquiries right now, and litigation is ongoing in this case, so the situation may change. In the meantime, here’s what we know:
CFPB staff, including legislative liaison staff and consumer response staff, received an email telling them to stand down from all work tasks on February 10, including statutorily-mandated tasks. We also know that at least one Congressional liaison was let go in this period.
On February 27, Consumer Response Division Chief Matt Pfaff filed a declaration in NTEU v. Vought stating that "Complaints referred [via email] by congressional offices, states, and most federal agencies are not being reviewed and sent to companies. These complaints require federal staff to review and process... Taken together, in these categories alone [referrals plus complaints with typos in the company name or incomplete complaints], I expect that more than 10,000 complaints are currently awaiting federal staff review. This is a large and unprecedented backlog." This includes cases with the Escalated Case Management team.
In his own declarations in the case, CFPB COO Adam Martinez has called these declarations “misleading” and stated that CFPB continues to carry out statutorily-mandated activity.
What does this mean for caseworkers?
If your case was already in CFPB’s portal with the Consumer Response division before February 10, it is likely still being worked.
If you are submitting a new case, it may not be added to the system for now.
If you are trying to get in touch directly with someone in CFPB’s liaison office, they may not be able to respond (and if they were let go, you will probably not receive a notification that they are no longer there).
SSA
Good news: WEP/GPO retroactive payments are going out quicker than expected by automating straightforward cases.
SSA’s press release on cost savings anticipated for 2025 includes a few notable pieces for casework teams: hiring at Disability Determination Services has been frozen and overtime “drastically” reduced. SSA also plans to switch to having external vendors print and mail notices, rather than field office staff.
Social Security has also offered voluntary early retirement to all staff, with no exemptions.
Former Commissioner Martin O’Malley suggests that cuts to the agency’s staff could lead to interruptions in benefits.
SSA shares its work to identify and correct records without an assigned death date (i.e., records for people 100 years and older).
Education
The Department of Education has closed applications for Income-Driven Repayment Plans as it reviews a US Court of Appeals 8th Circuit decision upholding a temporary suspension on SAVE plans. While the decision only applied to the SAVE program, other income-driven plans are also currently unavailable, including elements of Public Service Loan Forgiveness plans.
Staff who have worked at least three years for the Department of Education were offered a $25,000 Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment ahead of a “significant” planned reduction in force.
Borrowers are continuing to report unauthorized bank account withdrawals for debts they no longer owe from their loan servicers.
VA
The VA has officially switched over to Login.gov and ID.me as the secure log-in provider for all VA services and apps. Veterans who previously used MyHealthEVet sign-on will still be able to access their accounts, but will need to create an account on either platform.
A leaked memo indicates that the VA is preparing plans to return to 2019, pre-PACT Act staffing levels, reducing its physical footprint and laying off as many as 83,000 employees.
The VA clarified that Veterans Crisis Line staff are exempt from the federal hiring freeze, and has re-issued previously withdrawn job offers. Questions remain about the availability of in-office space for VCL staff.
The VA has canceled 875 contracts with external vendors, including contracts to support disability ratings, mail intake and processing, and toxic exposure assessments under the PACT Act.
Military
Transgender military service members (or military members with a history of gender dysphoria) will be removed from service, according to a Pentagon memo released as part of a lawsuit. Affected service members will be granted honorable discharges if they meet normal conditions, and be eligible for voluntary or involuntary separation pay. Transgender service members who qualify for exceptions related to direct warfighting roles or other “compelling reasons” to retain them will have their records and facilities access updated to match the gender identity they were assigned at birth.
Military spouses raise concerns over insufficient protections for remote jobs.
Immigration
Likely not a surprise, but we also heard that CARE is not responding to Congressional inquiries right now, either. The CARE team has set up an auto-responder with more information.
USCIS announced that all immigrants who did not enter the US with a visa will be required to register with the federal government and carry proof of registration on them.
Reuters reports that the Administration is also planning to revoke temporary protected status for Ukrainian immigrants fleeing the conflict with Russia.
Tracker for federal agency RIFs/layoffs/firings
GovExec has a great tracker for how agencies are conducting Reductions-in-Force, layoffs, probationary employee firings, etc.
Unemployment applications for federal employees up 166%
While non-federal unemployment claims fell for the week of February 22, federal unemployment claims are rising sharply.
TAS guide to tax help
The Taxpayer Advocate Service has a guide to obtaining free tax filing help, including VITA, FreeFile, DirectFile, MilTax, and Taxpayer Assistance Centers.
Good news: OPM launches digital retirement
OPM launches digital retirement paperwork, eliminating the need for large amounts of paper forms in the federal retirement process.
Record numbers of MSPB appeals since Feb
The Merit Systems Protection Board has seen skyrocketing numbers of appeals since the beginning of February, including over 2,100 appeals in the last week of February (average weekly total is historically around 100). MSPB still has a quorum for now.
GSA designates over 400 federal properties “non-core” and eligible for sale
Although the list has since been pulled down, the agency’s original posting noted that chronic underfunding has left many of its most prominent buildings across the country in disrepair and unsuited for a modern workforce, making it cheaper to sell than to perform costly repairs. The listing does not mean that the buildings must be sold, and the agency notes that it is also exploring ground-leases, sale-lease backs, and other public-private partnerships.
Warning lights? Gov-backed home loan borrowers increasingly behind on payments
Delinquency rates for VA- and FHA-backed home loans have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Conventional mortgage delinquency rates remain below pre-pandemic levels. Caseworkers have handled fallout from housing market difficulties before.
Discussion of Administrative Law Judges and constituent due process
University of Minnesota Law School professor Nick Bednar discusses changes to Administrative Law Judges and how they may impact constituents’ right to due process in administrative proceedings for agencies like EOIR, SSA, and VA.
UK version of Login.gov launches
An interesting look at the UK’s version of digital transformation, and a vision for how digital services could work in the UK that might have some lessons for the US.
