Our district has great constituent advocates who work on cases TX-07 residents have before federal agencies. We recently closed 9,000 cases on behalf of TX-07 residents! For more on how we can help, check out my website. If you think you may need our help with a federal agency, click here.
Recently, Fatimah on our team helped TX-07 resident Teresa H who was experiencing an issue with the Social Security Administration. After the case was resolved, Teresa sent the following message, which I’m glad to share:
“I had a long-running issue with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that never would have been resolved without the intervention of Congresswoman Fletcher's office. In December 2020, I applied for disability benefits for my mentally handicapped sister. SSA rejected the application, so I filed an appeal in March 2021. After we fulfilled the requirements for the appeal, her case was closed in June 2021. But there was no response from SSA – neither acceptance or rejection. I began calling my local SSA office for assistance. The office was closed because of the pandemic and it was difficult to get through to a human by phone. The few times I succeeded, the SSA employees said they could not give me any information, even though I had filed all the required documents to serve as my sister's representative. I called the SSA national hotline several times, but they could not help either. As a last resort, I hand-delivered a letter to the local SSA office in November 2021 explaining the issue and begging for a response. None came.
“In January 2022, I was ready to hire an attorney, when someone suggested asking my Member of Congress for help. I had no idea that was a possibility. I contacted Congresswoman Fletcher’s office and was connected with a constituent services representative in the Congresswoman’s Houston office. Fatimah, a constituent services representative with Congresswoman Fletcher, took over my case, and after additional requests and communication with SSA, an SSA supervisor contacted me.
“Turns out, SSA had accepted my sister's appeal in June 2021, but never notified us. Not only will she receive disability benefits going forward, but SSA also will pay her all the money she should have received starting in June 2021. This is the ideal outcome that I could not have achieved on my own or without spending thousands of dollars for an attorney. I owe it all to Fatimah and the Congresswoman’s team–backed by the power of their boss–and my sister and I are eternally grateful.”
And Shirley on our team also helped another TX-07 resident, Ahmad D., who was experiencing an issue with the United States Immigration and Citizenship Services. Ahmad shared the message and picture below after his case was resolved:
“I contacted Congresswoman Fletcher because of a delay from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to renew my work permit resulting in me losing my job and experiencing extreme financial hardship. Rep. Fletcher offered help and contacted the USCIS and as a result, my application was expedited, and I received my new work permit within a couple of weeks.”