That process is best seen in the calls and emails I get every day from Arkansans who need help with a federal agency. This year alone, my office directly assisted more than 2,700 Arkansans by cutting through bureaucratic red tape and addressing everything from emergency passports to a veteran who was owed 20 years of backpay.
In addition to providing an important constituent service, assisting with these issues helps me, too. When I know what problems people have with various federal agencies, it informs budget decisions and helps identify programs in need of oversight or reform. Receiving that input from Arkansans is a critical part of the job, and I am grateful for the trust each person puts in me when they reach out to my office in their hour of need.
Looking at the requests for help I received in 2024, 68 percent related to military and veterans’ issues. Every day, my staff and I helped connect former servicemembers with health care options, discovered the status of VA loans or obtained overdue military records and medals. Among our most solemn and time-sensitive duties is assisting families and funeral homes when a veteran passes away but the proper paperwork for a burial is missing or incomplete. These cases usually come to us 24 to 48 hours before a scheduled service and my office works swiftly to meet this need as a comfort to grieving families and a final act of respect for our nation’s heroes.
As someone who grew up in a military family, I take special pride in helping these men and women – and their loved ones – access the benefits and services they have earned. Yet they are far from the only Arkansans who require my staff to reach out to federal agencies on their behalf.
It is notable what types of support were needed this year compared to recent history.
For the last four years, the casework load had been dominated by programs and issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ripple effects of agency closures and backlogs. I am happy to report that the trends in my office this year indicate the end of those complications. In fact, the problems reported and the number of requests we received in 2024 were similar to 2019 with a list dominated by veterans’ issues, Social Security and IRS questions.
As Arkansas’s former Third District Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt so helpfully explained to me years ago, “When the election is over there are no Democrats or Republicans, just the people of Arkansas – and it is your job to take care of them.”
I’m grateful that Arkansans reach out to share their views and seek assistance from my team and me each day. I look forward to continuing this work in 2025 as we search for ways to make our federal government work better for every American.