Representative Chrissy Houlahan

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Dear [firstname],

Although much of the federal government remains shut down, my team and I are still working full-time for you. And like most federal employees who are working, we are doing so without pay. Why? Because we raised our hands to be public servants and continuing this work is the right thing to do.

What does it mean to be open right now? We are still answering your phone calls, reading your emails, and answering your questions. In Washington, D.C., I am working with my colleagues to reopen the government while trying to prevent millions of Americans from losing their health care. In our Reading and West Chester offices, we are still tracking down delayed IRS refunds, fixing issues with Medicare and Social Security, and following up on VA benefit claims. Some, if not all, federal agencies are slower to respond so you may notice a lag time in our ability to resolve your issue, but we continue each day to prioritize constituent services regardless of what’s going on at the federal level.

During a shutdown or not, if you or someone you know needs help with a federal agency, I hope you’ll contact us. Not sure what kind of problems we solve? I pulled some recent examples to help answer that:

PROBLEM -- INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

Christopher E. filed his 2023 taxes but never received his refund. He contacted us for help.

SOLUTION
We worked with our liaison at the IRS to resolve the issues preventing the return from being processed, and Christopher received the overdue refund plus interest.
FEEDBACK

Christopher E. from Devon says, “You were prompt in responses and requests for information; you couldn’t have been any better.”

PROBLEM -- US POSTAL SERVICE

After the U.S. Post Office lost a package, Mildred A. filed a claim for damages from the USPS which was denied. She tried to resolve it on her own before contacting us for help.

SOLUTION
We advocated for her with the USPS, the denial was overturned, and she received reimbursement for the items lost.
FEEDBACK

Mildred A. from West Chester says, “You understood my concern, you were very professional, friendly, and followed through for me. I very much appreciated your help.”

PROBLEM -- SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

An error at the Social Security Administration resulted in Donald C. being overcharged for Medicare each month. He contacted us for help.

SOLUTION
We worked with our liaison at the Social Security Administration to identify the mistake, get it fixed, and a refund for the excess withdrawals was provided to Donald.
FEEDBACK

Donald C. from Reading says, “You did a great job in resolving my issue as quickly as possible.”

PROBLEM -- MEDICARE

On his doctor’s recommendation, Dannel L. purchased a walker but Medicare denied his claim for reimbursement because their records incorrectly showed he was reimbursed for one within the last five years. Dannel contacted us for help.

SOLUTION
We worked with both Medicare and the walker provider to sort this out and correct Medicare’s records. Dannel was reimbursed for the walker.
FEEDBACK

Dannel L. from Downingtown says, “We could not have asked for better help. You were on top of this complicated issue the whole way and the outcome was even better than we had asked for.”

PROBLEM -- US TREASURY

After sending eight U.S. Savings Bonds to the U.S. Treasury to be redeemed, James R. only received the value of five of them. He tried for months to resolve this on his own. He then contacted us for help.

SOLUTION
We worked with our liaison at the U.S. Treasury to track down and redeem the other three savings bonds. James received them.
FEEDBACK

James R. from West Chester says, “After contacting your office, I received the funds in a matter of weeks.”

Call me. Let's talk.

You can call us with questions or concerns at the phone numbers below. Because of the shutdown, we are forced to furlough our interns so if you cannot reach us immediately, please leave a message and we will return your call.

Washington, D.C.: (202) 225-4315
West Chester: (610) 883-5050
Reading: (610) 295-0815

You can also find information on my website, and here are a few more places you can visit:

Medicare and Healthcare Town Hall on October 27th

Keeping our offices open to serve you allows us to hold telephone town halls, and next week we're hosting our third annual one focused on Medicare.

Usually, we have federal and state experts join us just before open enrollment begins to help us answer some of the more challenging questions. Because of the shutdown, we're going to take questions on both Medicare and general healthcare concerns you have, either as a result of the shutdown, the "One Big Beautiful Bill," Secretary Kennedy, the CDC and more.

You can join us in two ways: Dial into the call on (855) 731-4616 or visit houlahan.house.gov/live. You'll be able to ask questions either way you choose to join.

Hot Topics

And here are the top three issues that our community has called and written to me about this week:

Deployments of National Guard troops in American cities
Elimination of special education staff within the Department of Education
Speaker Johnson's delay in swearing in Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva

Serving as our community’s representative in Congress is the honor and privilege of my lifetime and I hope you will reach out about the issues you care about.

As always, please contact my office if you need assistance.

Sincerely,

Chrissy Houlahan

U.S. Member of Congress

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