Newsletter: Looking Back on Pandemic Casework
I’m sure that nobody needs to be reminded that this month marks five years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — but I did want to take a moment to acknowledge that anniversary and reflect on the incredible work of caseworkers to support constituents in that tough period. From managing repatriation flights, to helping first responders track down Lysol, your teams stepped up right away to make sure that constituents knew they had someone on their side in the uncertainty and fear. As the work built up, you helped facilitate contact with agencies who couldn’t take normal customer service calls, and problem-solved around new pandemic-era relief programs — all while handling your own personal experience of the pandemic. If it all feels like both yesterday and also a hundred years ago, you’re not alone.
So, on behalf of everyone who felt the impact of your hard and ongoing work — thank you.
If you’re a newer caseworker, I’d definitely encourage you to take a second to grab coffee and talk to colleagues in your office or your delegation about that experience. This is how offices (and Congress as a whole) can build and keep the institutional knowledge that lets it meet the moment in the future.
As always, 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
What a lovely quote from Rep. Austin Scott [R, GA] in that big Politico story, on the best part of Congress: “Being able to help people — constituent services type of work. People that you’ve never personally met before, but who have contacted your office and say, ‘Hey, thanks for the help with the VA.’”
For your Staff Assistant colleagues, the Modernization Staff Association launched its New Office Guide for State/District Staff Assistants
We’re tracking reports of GSA selling federal buildings housing Congressional district and state offices — I spoke with Justin Papp at Roll Call on this earlier this week.
Speaking of office space, we’re on the record as big fans of casework vans and other creative mobile office hours programs — wishing Rep. Pat Ryan’s [D, NY] team well on their next CARES van tour!
Mark your calendars for March 24! We’re cohosting a very cool event with Jennifer Pahlka and the Niskanen Center on how to draft policy for effective implementation in federal agencies. The event will be hosted virtually and in-person — join us and tell your policy team!
The National League of Cities is hosting a hybrid event on the rise of disruptive behavior at town halls, April 22.
I remain a firm believer in the bipartisan cooperation of caseworkers from both sides of the aisle as one of the bright points in Congress, and it sounds like that open information-sharing is more important than ever.
The Implementation Gap: Turning Legislative Intent into Executive-Led Outcomes
March 24 at 2 PM EDT (in-person & virtual)
Join us for a discussion focused on going beyond traditional legislative training to address the critical but often overlooked issues with implementation across the Executive branch.
Agency News
Hello and welcome back to shutdown watch
Here we go again! A few reminders:
Unless Congress passes a Continuing Resolution (CR), federal funding is set to expire at midnight on Saturday.
Because the bill at stake is a Continuing Resolution to fund the entire government, this would be a full shutdown (not partial, so no need to scramble to figure out which agencies are impacted like the last few shutdowns).
With that said: the Office of Management and Budget has not yet released guidance on shutdown preparation, and has instructed agencies to hold off on any employee communication until further notice. In shutdowns, which employees are furloughed is largely at the discretion of the Administration.
Gabe Fleischer at Wake Up to Politics has a deep dive into how a shutdown works (and could work in this political moment).
We also have some starting points to put together a casework plan for shutdowns.
SSA
A couple of announcements and swift reversals from SSA this week: again, Congressional offices can play an important role sharing the most accurate and up-to-date information possible. First: Maine’s CDC announced March 6 that SSA had canceled a contract that facilitated issuing newborns their Social Security Numbers; SSA reversed the decision on March 7. Second, on March 12, SSA reversed plans to end phone service for retirement and disability claims — instead, the agency will only restrict the use of phone service to change banking information.
Social Security also reversed recent changes to overpayment withholdings: it will now default to collecting 100% of a person’s monthly benefit until the overpayment is recouped; beneficiaries may still apply for a waiver for a lower amount. This will apply to new overpayments after March 27.
Many constituents are reporting hold times upwards of two hours for SSA customer service.
Immigration
DHS relaunches its CBP App to encourage self-deportations: the app is now called CBP Home, and allows migrants to submit their intention to depart the country and confirm when they leave.
State Department is launching an initiative to use AI to screen social media accounts for student visa-holders to identify students who support Hamas and other foreign terror groups.
Eighteen Immigration Law judges and 85 other employees have accepted buyout offers from EOIR (a reminder that there’s a 3.7 million case backlog). These buyouts, combined with judges who were let go while on probationary employment, bring the total up to around 40 immigration law judges who have left since the start of the year.
The State Department is developing plans to close a dozen consulates and additional missions as part of efforts to reduce the department’s operating budget. A list of proposed closures has been circulated to SFR and HFAC.
A January 20 executive order ordered agencies to develop lists of countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries” within 60 days. Immigration advocates, including groups and Members of Congress supporting Afghan allies, expect a new executive order restricting immigration from specific countries likely to be on that list around March 20.
Fulbright grants and other State Department funding for students studying abroad remains frozen.
Federal employees and return-to-office
March 13 is the deadline for agencies to submit plans for RIFs, so we expect to see more news on planned staff cuts soon.
Agencies that have recalled their hybrid or remote employees are struggling to find space for them to work. In particular, if you have any folks working on classified or sensitive information for federal agencies in your district, it may be worth checking in on whether they have adequate controlled space?
ProtectDemocracy’s If You Can Keep It newsletter has a nice roundup of resources for federal employees, and a quick guide to understanding current lawsuits around federal employment — although published before the March 13 judicial ruling ordering the Administration to re-hire fired probationary employees.
InnovateUS and the GovLab have also partnered to offer free upskilling courses for laid-off federal employees.
DHS ends its collective bargaining agreement for TSA staff. The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was part of a negotiation in 2024 for higher pay for TSA screeners, and was scheduled to end in 2031. Ending the CBA can streamline the process for firing employees, and also means that union dues can no longer be collected through payroll.
Included in the CR: addressing Medicare reimbursement cliffs
Beyond funding the government, the current CR draft also includes language that would prevent a formula-based pay cut to doctors who treat Medicare patients, and allow doctors to continue to use telehealth services to see patients under Medicare.
Changes to PSLF
The Trump Administration issued an executive order limiting eligible service for PSLF for employees of nonprofits working on gender transition care, disruptive protests, and other issues. The change is not likely to take effect immediately.
Status still unclear at CFPB
Litigation is ongoing in a federal lawsuit over CFPB’s closure and Reduction-in-Force. If you missed it last week, we had a deeper dive into what’s likely happening with open inquiries with the agency.
Senate HSGAC marks up several casework-related bills
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs marked up a series of casework-related bills on Wednesday, including simplifying disaster aid applications, ending improper payments to deceased people, and expanding whistleblower protections to contractors.
Reminder: comments still open on Senate Finance IRS administration discussion draft
If your office has handled a significant IRS caseload in the past, you may want to take a look through the discussion draft of a new tax administration bill posted by Senate Finance Committee Chair Crapo [R, ID] and Ranking Member Wyden [D, OR]. The bill is endorsed by the National Taxpayer Advocate service, and the committee is seeking feedback on the discussion draft until March 31. This is where casework experience can help prevent future casework!
Preparation is key: expiring provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
CRS published an updated reference table of provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act impacting individuals and families that are set to expire by the end of 2025.
Notify.gov shuts down
GSA’s pilot project developing a text messaging service to help agencies improve communication on benefits programs is shutting down. Notify.gov was developed by GSA’s Tech Transformation Service (TTS), which is expected to be downsized by 50%.
