From: The Honorable Scott H. Peters
Sent By: michael.campbell@mail.house.gov
Bill: H.R. 3147
Date: 7/27/2015

Dear Colleague:
Providing our constituents with assistance in navigating the federal bureaucracy is one of the most tangible and beneficial jobs we do here in Congress. But far too many in our communities don’t know how we can assist them.
Unfortunately, outside vendors are exploiting this information void by charging our constituents for services that our Congressional offices can perform for free. I have heard from numerous veterans who have been approached by outside businesses that, in exchange for help with processing casework, want a percentage of the benefit garnered for the veteran.
In the 113th Congress, my office dedicated resources to raising community awareness of the services my office provides constituents free of charge. As a result, my office assisted hundreds of constituents:
63 Customs and Border Protection/Department of Homeland Security Cases;
338 Veterans Administration cases;
268 United States Customs and Immigration Service Cases;
221 Social Security Administration Cases; and
91 State Department cases.
In total, my office secured nearly $1.4 million in owed-benefits for my constituents. Without dedicated outreach resources to raise awareness of the services we can provide, many of these constituents would still be in search of aid, or would be paying a private entity to help them get the benefits they are owed.
My proposed legislative solution has two parts, detailed below:
Require Congressional offices to make their constituent services public, either on their website or in print.
Those services must include helping with casework on Social Security, Medicare, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Internal Revenue Service, passports, and federally-backed student loans.
Failure to do so would result in a forfeiture of 20% of the Member’s Representational Allowance (MRA)
Casework assistance is defined as requesting information, requesting status reports, arranging appointments, advocating for prompt consideration, or expressing an opinion.
A sense of Congress that outside vendors providing services that can be provided free of charge in a Congressional office should notify their customers of that information.
To cosponsor this resolution or receive more information, please contact Michael Campbell (Michael.campbell@mail.house.gov) in my office at 5-0508.
Sincerely,
Scott Peters
Member of Congress