US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator for Wyoming Cynthia Lummis
Washington, DC – Senators John Barrasso, Cynthia Lummis and Congresswoman Harriet Hageman introduced bipartisan and bicameral legislation – the Postal Operations Stay Timely and Local (POSTAL) Act, which prevents the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from closing, consolidating, or downgrading its processing and distribution centers (P&DC) nationwide if such an action would remove the sole P&DC within a state or negatively impact mail delivery.
“While this administration creates unnecessary disruptions in mail delivery across the state of Wyoming by closing sorting facilities in a laughable display of ‘fiscal responsibility,’ they are senselessly spending billions of Wyoming tax dollars on their left-wing priorities,” said Senator Lummis. “In-state mail should not have to leave the state of Wyoming for processing, yet under this administration’s string of closures, that’s the harsh reality for Wyoming and a handful of states across the U.S. Every single state should have at least one sorting facility to ensure Americans receive their mail in a timely manner, and I am partnering with Senator Barrasso and Rep. Hageman to ensure that standard is met.”
“The United States Postal Service (USPS) is a lifeline in rural states like ours,” said Senator Barrasso. “The USPS’ outrageous proposal would close processing and distribution centers in Wyoming and lead to unnecessary delays. The people of Wyoming deserve to have access to a reliable and timely postal service. This bipartisan legislation will save jobs and ensure we continue to have access to these critical postal facilities in Wyoming.”
“All Americans rely upon USPS to receive correspondence, bills, packages, and medication in a timely manner,” said Representative Hageman. “If fulfilled, the USPS modernization plan threatens the promise of timely, secure mail delivery by transporting the bulk of Wyoming’s mail out of state, while also forcing many USPS P&DC employees to either relocate or lose their jobs. The closure of P&DCs bring serious election integrity concerns by forcing the transport of mailed-in ballots out of state, introducing the potential for delivery of ballots after an election concludes.
“The POSTAL Act alleviates these concerns by ensuring that any P&DC realignment or modernization actions done by the USPS cannot result in a negative impact on mail delivery or close the final P&DC within a state’s borders. I’m proud to be joined by Congressman Chris Pappas of New Hampshire and Senator Lummis to introduce this bipartisan, bicameral bill.”
Background:
- As part of its “Delivering for America” modernization plan, the USPS has begun to consolidate or downgrade many of its existing processing and distribution centers, shifting the bulk of mail processing and delivery functions to other locations.
- As part of this shift, USPS has announced plans to downgrade both P&DC facilities in Wyoming, shifting Casper’s P&DC operations to Billings, Montana and Cheyenne’s operations to Denver, Colorado, leaving Wyoming without an in-state P&DC.
