Jan's Plans & Pans - July 19, 2024

It was a great week at home! It’s always a pleasure to meet with constituents and visit organizations that serve the 9th Congressional District.

I had a fantastic meeting with Luis Rivas and Debbie Gibson with the Illinois and National Associations of Letter Carriers. We discussed our mutual concerns for the safety of postal workers, mailbox and key security, as well as upcoming legislation relating to USPS. I was proud to share that I support HR 277, which would restore higher service standards to ensure that USPS can provide timely and efficient mail service. I am also a staunch supporter of the Federal Retirement Fairness Act, HR 5995, which will allow federal employees who started their careers in temporary or non-career positions to make catch-up retirement contributions so they can retire on time.

I also had the opportunity to sit down with the President of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) of Illinois and several other members from our community.  We discussed the ongoing war in Ukraine and how critically important continued U.S. aid is to protecting our allies and stopping Russian aggression in the region.

I wrapped up my week in the district with a visit to the Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center (ZCenter) in Skokie. I met with Executive Director Sandy Williams and other ZCenter directors to learn about their work providing advocacy, education, and counseling to survivors of sexual assault and abuse. ZCenter has another location in Gurnee that serves Lake County. Thank you to ZCenter for welcoming me and for all their dedicated work providing our communities with quality care and support.

I’m looking forward to returning to Washington next week, where we will have a hearing in my Innovation, Data, and Commerce subcommittee with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Consumer protection is my passion, and I’m excited to talk about all the great things the Commission is doing, including implementing several laws I passed last Congress that protect children from dangerous and defective products. Tune in on Tuesday, July 23rd at 1 PM CT to watch the hearing!  

Sincerely, 

Visit to Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center

My district office helped a constituent obtain a travel document to visit family during an emergency:

“We want to express enormous gratitude for all the support provided by Rep. Schakowsky and her team. We were in a very complicated situation with the loss of a family member, and they gave us their help to obtain a permit to travel to support our family in such a painful moment.

"We were in a moment of great sadness as a family, and we wanted to be close to them. We thought this was going to take a long time, but thanks to the help and concern of Rep. Schakowsky's office, it only took one week to be reunited with my family. We will be forever grateful for all the help provided.”

Michael & Geraldine

Passport Renewal

Remember to check your passport validity before booking any summer travel plans! Current processing times for passports are: 6-8 weeks for routine and 2-3 weeks for expedited. These times are subject to change and are posted on the Dept. of State Website.  Please apply well in advance of your travel date – if your travel date is sooner than the current processing times, you may not get your passport in time for travel.

Please remember that emergency in-person appointments at the Chicago Passport Agency are intended for emergencies and availability is not guaranteed unless it is a life or death emergency! These appointments are not and have never been intended for routine renewal. If you have upcoming travel you should NOT plan on receiving an appointment at the Chicago Passport Agency. Passport renewals are intended to go through the mail. 

Did you know that many countries require your passport to be valid for several months beyond your date of travel? Depending on your destination, validity requirements can vary from 3 to 6 months beyond the date of travel! You can check the requirements for your destination on the Dept. of State Website under "International Travel" and "Country Information".

If you have planned travel and have a pending application that may not arrive on time, or if you need an emergency appointment at the Chicago Passport Agency, the Constituent Advocates in my District Office are happy to help! Please call the office at 773-506-7100, or you can open a case with my office online.