Constituent Services

We recently had a constituent from Bay Ridge contact our office for assistance with a delay in her approved Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. The constituent had not received her approved benefits for months after providing documentation verifying U.S. citizenship, creating significant financial hardship. Following assistance from our office, her SSDI benefits were reinstated, and she will receive approximately $20,000 in backpay.

Following outreach from Bensonhurst residents, our office is pleased to share that the Contract Postal Unit at Card Curio will remain open, preserving an important neighborhood postal resource for local residents and small businesses. Earlier this year, the office was notified that the longtime USPS service location was slated for closure, which would have forced residents to rely on the nearest facility, the Dyker Heights Post Office, located more than half a mile away.

We recently heard from a constituent in March who had not received her 2024 federal tax refund despite waiting nearly a year.

After she reached out our office, we intervened & resolved the issue with IRS. She successfully received her tax refund via direct deposit—including interest—totaling $33,648.

A local medical practice contacted our office for assistance with six Employee Retention Credit checks they were owed by IRS but never received. Our office contacted IRS and discovered that the payments were initially not processed by the agency.

After our office intervened, we were able to get the issue resolved for the small business and it successfully received the nearly $790,000 it was owed.

Our office assisted a constituent from Bay Ridge whose wife of 20+ years had received I-130 approval from USCIS but was unable to travel from Russia. She was originally scheduled to return to Moscow for an interview, but in December 2021 the National Visa Center notified her that her appointment location had been changed to Warsaw, Poland.

Our office assisted an elderly constituent caring for his wife who suffers from dementia in securing their owed tax return. After a six month delay due to a discrepancy in IRS’ system, we intervened and worked to ensure the refund was properly processed and issued via direct deposit, providing more than $11,000 in much-needed financial relief that helped cover critical monthly obligations during an especially challenging time for their family.

We recently had a local educational institution reach out to our office at the end of September after they did not receive their Employee Retention Credit (ERC) checks because they were not processed by the IRS. 

After contacting our office, we confirmed that they received all five checks totaling over $4,700,000.

Our office recently assisted a constituent who had been unable to collect Social Security benefits for over two decades due to a missing original birth certificate. 

After taking on the case in mid-August, our office worked closely with the Social Security Administration to confirm identity and ensure all documentation necessary was properly processed. Fortunately, the constituent has now received the full back pay they were owed — totaling more than $575,000.