RELEASE: Gottheimer Visits with North Jersey Families Assisted with Veterans Benefits, Airline Refunds, Social Security Payments

Above: Gottheimer joins Fifth District constituents who reached out for help and had their cases resolved.

FAIR LAWN, NJ — Today, November 25, 2025, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) joined with North Jersey constituents — including veterans, seniors, and local families — to discuss how he helped them receive benefits they were owed from the federal agencies, state government, and companies — including military disability Veterans Affairs benefits, unemployment benefits, and airline refunds.

In the last four years alone, Gottheimer’s office has helped more than 655 veterans access their VA benefits and service medals; more than 1,580 Fifth District seniors access their earned Social Security checks; return more than 61 constituents back home from being stranded overseas, including some stranded in Israel after October 7; more than 4,430 constituents access their unemployment benefits; and scores more fight the IRS.

Gottheimer joined Fifth District residents today:

• Donna Ivery & Willie Ivery of Hackensack: Willie is a former U.S. Army Reservist and Korean War veteran who served as a Corporal in the Artillery. He was denied medical care after being transported from the Paramus Veterans Home to a VA-approved doctor’s office where the co-pay was too high. Willie struggled to get the full VA benefits he earned since his service nearly 50 years ago. Willie was denied disability compensation benefits twice and his records were lost in a fire — bogging down the review process even further. Gottheimer’s office contacted the VA Pension Management Center and the Newark VA office to get answers and move the process along. In addition to ensuring his benefits status was fixed and approved, Gottheimer ensured that Willie would receive a 100% service-connected disability rating, awarded pension benefits — including about $75,000 in backpay — and also helped ensure Willie received his monthly disability compensation benefits of more than $3,900.

• Pamela Connors of New Milford: When Pamela had fallen severely ill, she went to the hospital. Because of her condition, Pamela could no longer work, and she reached out to the New Jersey Department of Labor’s (NJDOL) temporary disability insurance program to receive benefits to help. For three months, Pamela did not hear anything about her claim, so she reached out to Gottheimer’s office for assistance. Within a couple weeks, Gottheimer was able to confirm that her claim was approved, and she received more than $5,400 from the critical benefits she paid into. After returning to work, Pamela fell ill again, reached out to NJDOL to extend her benefits, but a paperwork issue stopped her from receiving them. Gottheimer helped ensure Pamela received her Social Security disability insurance benefits, and ensured they were back-dated. In total, Gottheimer helped Pamela claw back nearly $5,500 from NJDOL and more than $12,000 in backpay, with a monthly benefit rate of $2,400 from Social Security.
• Svitlana Sukharieva of Allendale: Svitlana Sukharieva, an Allendale resident, is originally from Ukraine. She was trying to travel back home to Ukraine with her then 6-year-old son, when the town she was traveling to was unfortunately bombed. Svitlana, who was also pregnant at the time, paid to change her flight date due to safety concerns. She originally tried to reach out to Lufthansa Airlines for refund assistance, but they refused to refund her for the flight. Within one month of Gottheimer’s office reaching out, Lufthansa agreed that Svitlana was owed the money for the flight and that they would begin to process the payment to her.

Video of Gottheimer’s visit can be found here.

“I’m always fighting for the Fifth District, not just by focusing on issues our nation is facing, but local ones as well. By taking care of Fifth District constituents, we’ve helped thousands of residents who’ve been denied Social Security checks, VA benefits, health care, or critical resources they need — all due to bureaucratic glitches or red tape,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “If you need help with any of the issues accessing Medicare, Social Security, passports, VA benefits, and so much more, please reach out to me.”

If you are experiencing an issue with a federal agency, Gottheimer and his Constituent Services Team are here to listen and help with VA benefits, Social Security, Medicare, passports, delayed IRS refunds, and more. Reach out to Gottheimer in Fair Lawn at 201-389-1100, by email at HelpNJ5@mail.house.gov, or visit Gottheimer.House.Gov for more information and resources. 

Congressman Gottheimer was also joined today by Fair Lawn Mayor Cristina Cutrone and Fair Lawn Deputy Mayor Josh Reintz. 

Below: Gottheimer meets with constituents who had their issues resolved by the office. Gottheimer also presented Korean War veteran Willie Ivery with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol in his honor.

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