Spanberger’s Office Returns More Than $8 Million in Federal Benefits to Seventh District Residents

HENRICO, V.A. — Today, just weeks after exceeding $7 million, U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger announced that her office has surpassed $8 million in casework funds returned to constituents in Virginia’s Seventh District.

Casework dollars are secured and returned by fighting for backlogged benefits and advocating for fair treatment on behalf of constituents dealing with a federal agency, program, or benefit. Recently, Spanberger’s office has maintained their work on typical casework concerns, like Social Security, Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits, and Medicare, while also adapting to needs like securing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) refunds and addressing U.S. passport delays.

Since taking office on January 3, 2019, Spanberger’s office has closed 2,372 cases for Central Virginians and returned $8,243,741.

“My job is to serve every resident of Virginia’s Seventh District, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have helped so many constituents as they have faced challenges with federal agencies,” said Spanberger. “My hardworking constituent services team has worked tirelessly to advocate on behalf of our neighbors who feel they have been treated unfairly or have not received a response in a timely manner. If anyone here in the Seventh District needs assistance with a federal agency — or has additional questions about how our team can be of assistance — I hope they will reach out directly to our office.”

Some of the successful casework testimonials submitted by Seventh District residents include:

“My husband and I had to contact IRS regarding a tax issue that should be easy to resolve, or so we thought. After many frustrating phone calls and letters to IRS and getting nowhere, we reached to Congresswoman Spanberger’s office for help. We spoke to Shawn Meredith, our knight in shining armor. He worked his way through the IRS labyrinth and got our issue with IRS resolved.  We are very grateful for the services of Congresswoman Spanberger’s staff.” — Ginger Jenkins

“The Representative let me know I had VA benefits during a townhall. Her office helped me contact the right people, and my VA claim was accepted and approved within a few weeks. Abigail Spanberger is the first Representative I felt was genuine, and is hearing me.” — Jay Luster

“My husband and I accidentally let our passports expire. We had a trip planned and booked. We paid a private service to help expedite them but, it was the assistance of your employee Kristi Black who truly helped us. She was so proactive and professional, making no promises, but assuring us she would do her best to help us get our passports. She coached us through the steps. It literally came down to the day of our departure and we were still hopeful. Thanks to Kristi Black our trip was possible.” — Lisa Taylor

“My husband and I received a notice from the IRS that we had not paid our 2020 taxes and were being charged interest and penalties. We knew this was wrong because we paid our taxes via online IRS portal in March 2021. Thanks to Shawn and the rest of Rep. Spanberger’s staff for advocating for us and resolving the IRS issue earlier than expected. We don’t owe anything and attribute this to your advocacy. What a relief!” — Teresa Reed

“I was very grateful for the care and attention I received from Abigail Spanberger’s office. When I registered a problem online on her website concerning the Department of Defense regarding an annuity, I received a call back within 45 minutes. With the help of Representative Spanberger’s office, I had a favorable resolution to my problem. I will always be thankful for the help I received.” — Betsy Lyon

“Excellent assistance on VA matters – extremely professional. The staff was always so dedicated to assisting me with my father’s VA benefits – Dad was a proud WWII and Korean conflict veteran and Rep. Spanberger and her staff were incredibly helpful.” — Glenn Hayden

“Your office helped me get OPM to correct my pension payment after all my attempts to work directly with OPM failed.  Believe it or not OPM was paying me too much every month and I couldn’t get through to them to get them to reduce the payment to the correct amount. I knew that eventually they would catch the error and then want me to pay the excess amounts back. After I explained the situation to your staff they got OPM to address my case and the necessary correction was made promptly.” — Seth Heald

“On 10/31/20 I applied for SSDI after being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. After 3 ½ months of little to no progress by SSA, I contacted Rep. Spanberger’s office for assistance. The next day, SSA began processing my application! Six months later, the processing of my application seemed to hit another wall with no progress. So I contacted Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s office again on 7/26/21. Within 3 weeks my application was approved! I can’t thank enough the office of Rep. Abigail Spanberger to assist and expedite my application. Without their assistance, I’m sure I would still be waiting.” — Brian Miller

To read additional casework testimonials from Seventh District constituents, click here. To open a casework concern with Spanberger’s office, constituents can click here to fill out a casework form.

 

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