Assists Over 2,000 Individual Constituents in First Term

Las Cruces, NM— A “Constituent Services Report” released by his office shows that during his first 21 months as the U.S. Representative for New Mexico’s 2nd district, Harry Teague has helped recover or secure over $3.7 million owed to New Mexico veterans, seniors, and other constituents who turned to Teague and his staff for help cutting through federal agency red tape. 

 “One of the most important responsibilities of my job is helping our constituents resolve issues with federal agencies.  These are folks who have legitimate claims that have gone overlooked or are stuck in bureaucratic red tape,” said Harry Teague. “Helping people is why I ran for office and it’s also why I spend so much time traveling the district.  I want to meet with constituents and find out what I can do to help them and their communities.  If you’re struggling to get the benefits you’re due from the VA, Social Security or any federal agency, I encourage you to stop by one of our six district offices, stop by one of our Mobile Office Hours, or call the Harry Helpline [1-888-9-TEAGUE] so that our office can get started helping you.”

Casework Highlights

·               2,149 Individual cases

·               $1.8 million in Social Security benefits

·               $1.1 million is Veterans benefits     

·               $163,000 from the IRS

The real story is behind the numbers – constituents have come to Harry for help when they were on the verge of losing their home because bureaucratic red tape was holding up the benefits they had earned or because an accounting error resulted in them fighting with a federal agency for years to get them to clear up the mistake.

Here’s the story of one constituent Harry helped – Donald Scheuerman, a veteran from  Carlsbad, suffered a heart attack and had to be airlifted to the Albuquerque VA Hospital.  After recovering, Donald received a bill from the VA for over $12,000 to cover the expenses of the helicopter ride because the VA claimed that he should have scheduled an appointment first.  Donald was unable to work through the normal VA channels to have the obvious mistake corrected, and since 2001 he had been forced to make a monthly payment on this debt.  Harry met Donald at a veterans’ roundtable and after hearing his story got to work to fix the problem.  As a result, the VA settled the debt with air medical transport company and refunded Donald his money.

Outreach Highlights

Harry Teague has made constituent casework and outreach a top priority.  He has held an unprecedented number of public, constituent-focused events across southern New Mexico, including over 110 “Harry in Your Hometown” events, and 19 Community Casework Resource Workshops where constituents could meet directly with representatives from various federal and state agencies. In addition, Harry opened 6 district offices and his staff hosted over 300 Mobile Office Hour events throughout southern New Mexico.

Since New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District is so large, many constituents were still forced to travel long distances to get the assistance they needed. To address this issue, Harry launched a Mobile Office Hours program to reach people who need assistance, but aren’t able to make it to one his district offices due to long distances, lack of transportation, or busy schedules. These events, which total over 1,000 hours of assistance, take staff members to communities outside of his office locations to assist people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get help.

In addition to casework, Teague has responded to over 90,000 constituent letters and pieces of correspondence and delivers the Harry Hotline E-newsletter to thousands of his constituents.  Harry Teague has district caseworkers in offices in Las Cruces, Los Lunas, Hobbs, Roswell, Alamogordo and Socorro who can be a resource and advocate in dealing with federal agencies.  Constituents who need help or have questions should call the Harry Helpline at 1-888-9-TEAGUE.

To read the full report, please  click here.

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