On Constituent Services
Most people don’t think about their member of Congress until something has gone wrong.
I’ve heard these stories from around the state. A VA disability claim that has been sitting for fourteen months. A Social Security check that stopped showing up. A passport that never arrived before a flight. An IRS letter that doesn’t match what someone owes.
Every one of these moments is a chance for Congress to show up. And too often, it doesn’t. That’s not a small issue, it’s the reason too many people stop believing the government works for them. I intend to change that.
Senator Hassan's office has returned more than thirty million dollars to New Hampshire families through casework. Veterans getting back benefits they earned, families keeping checks they were owed. That's the floor, not the ceiling. Dollars recovered, cases closed, and average resolution time will be published on our website every quarter.
The reason some offices get results and others don't comes down to one thing: whether the caseworker understands how the bureaucracy actually works. I'm hiring people who do. This means a former VA claims examiner on veterans cases. Someone who worked inside Social Security on disability and overpayment fights. A former immigration paralegal on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services delays. I’m hiring people who know where cases get stuck, because they’ve been on the other side of the desk.
Furthermore, I will put permanent caseworkers in Conway and on the Seacoast, with Manchester as our hub. Mobile office hours at senior centers, VFW posts, and college campuses. We are going to the Portuguese-speaking community in Manchester, the Indonesian community in Somersworth, and anywhere else people need services in their language, in their neighborhoods.
When a nor'easter hits and people need FEMA assistance, my office is the surge capacity. When ACA enrollment opens, we will be running clinics with local non-profits across the district. When something goes wrong for workers at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, my staff will be on site the next morning.
Every case we open teaches us something about what is broken at the federal level. If forty veterans in this district are getting mental health claims denied for the same procedural reason, that pattern becomes a bill I file. It becomes an oversight letter to the VA Secretary. It becomes a hearing question I bring to subcommittee. The work on the ground should drive the work in Washington.
Dollars recovered. Cases closed. Families helped. Every case we close is a step towards something bigger; showing people a government that works for them. Which allows effective representation in Washington.
