Moulton and Team Named Finalists for Outstanding Achievements in Constituent Service Award

The Congressional Manage­ment Foundation (CMF) today announced that Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA) and his team are finalists for the Democ­racy Awards, CMF’s honors pro­gram recognizing performance within congressional offices. Moulton and his team were se­lected for Outstanding Achieve­ment in Constituent Service, which recognizes offices for their outstanding practices or achieve­ments acting as ombudsmen with the federal government or re­sponding to constituent requests and inquiries.

 Bradford Fitch, President and CEO of the Congressional Man­agement Foundation said: “Now, more than ever, we need exam­ples of our government function­ing at its highest level. As a final­ist in Constituent Service for a Democracy Award, the office of Rep. Seth Moulton is clearly one of the best in Congress. This des­ignation demonstrates that Rep. Moulton has made a significant commitment to being the best public servant for his constitu­ents. Rep. Moulton and staff are to be congratulated for not only being a model for colleagues in Congress, but for helping to re­store trust and faith that our dem­ocratic institutions can work.

Rep. Seth Moulton said: “In moments like this one—when the federal government is failing to deliver tests and protection for health care workers, when a record number of people are out of work, and when far too many people are feeling let down by our country—we know the work that we do on your behalf is more important than ever. There’s a reason the title for Member of Congress is Representative. The duty to be your voice in govern­ment is our most important job, and we’re going to keep fighting for you every day.”

In the five years since he be­came a member of Congress, Moulton and his team have opened 5,583 cases for individu­al constituents. As of this week, he and his casework team have helped return $2,622,618.30 dol­lars owed by the federal govern­ment to North Shore residents in the form of benefits, tax refunds and checks. The three largest groups of people seeking help from the team are veterans, im­migrants and people who have problems with the Social Securi­ty Administration.

In addition to returning ben­efits, Moulton’s casework team has identified patterns in their work that has led to legislation like the Tl:Dr Act, which would mandate that every federal agen­cy put the most important dead­lines and information at the top of their often-confusing public correspondence.

This year, after noticing peo­ple who spent their careers as teachers and in other forms of local public service were being taxed unexpectedly by the Wind­fall Elimination Provision, Moul­ton’s team worked with Code For Boston to develop an app that provides an accurate calculation of benefits people can expect to receive. After beta testing the app with retirees attending Moulton’s town halls, government agencies adopted it nationally for their websites.

Moulton has also focused on making Congress more accessi­ble and accountable. This year, his congressional office rolled out a new website, Moulton.House.Gov that puts constituent assistance up front and is easily updated during public emergen­cies like the current coronavirus pandemic, allowing his Congres­sional office to serve as a conve­ner of resources and amplifier of vital information.

For example, Moulton’s coro­navirus resource page has been updated daily with new informa­tion, including a downloadable guide added this week that helps small businesses access emer­gency assistance.

This is the second time Moul­ton has been nominated for an award from the Congressional Management Foundation. In 2018 he and his team earned the Democracy Award for Transpar­ency and Accountability.

A committee of former Mem­bers of Congress and former con­gressional staffers will select the two winners (one Democrat and one Republican) for each of the categories. Winners will be an­nounced in a few months. An awards ceremony to honor fi­nalists and winners will be held on September 17, 2020, Consti­tution Day, a national holiday to commemorate the day in 1787 that delegates to the Constitu­tional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia.

There are five other finalists in the category and a total of 24 House and Senate offices across four categories. In addition to Constituent Services, there’s a “Life in Congress”-Workplace Environment category, a Trans­parency and Accountability cat­egory, and an Innovation and Modernization category. CMF staff selected the finalists based on a rigorous checklist of quali­fications, as well as interviews to assess the office’s adherence to the established criteria.

CMF is a 501(c)(3) nonpar­tisan nonprofit whose mission is to build trust and effectiveness in Congress. Since 1977, CMF has worked internally with Member, committee, leadership, and insti­tutional offices in the House and Senate to identify and dissemi­nate best practices for manage­ment, workplace environment, communications, and constituent services. CMF also is the leading researcher and trainer on citizen engagement, educating thou­sands of individuals and facili­tating better relationships with Congress.