NY Members of Congress Send Bipartisian Letter to Postmaster General Blasting His Plan to End Saturday Mail Delivery
Feb 11, 2013
Press Release
U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens), joined by virtually all members of New York’s Congressional delegation, this afternoon sent a bipartisan letter U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe blasting his decision to eliminate Saturday mail delivery and demanding that he reconsider the plan.
The correspondence, spearheaded by Meng, is signed by Reps. Michael Grimm (R-NY), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Jose Serrano (D-NY), Bill Owens (D-NY), Timothy Bishop (D-NY), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Chris Gibson (R-NY), Richard Hanna (R-NY), Brian Higgins (D-NY), Steve Israel (D-NY), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Peter King (R-NY), Daniel Maffei (D-NY), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Tom Reed (R-NY), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Paul Tonko (D-NY), and Nydia Velazquez (D-NY).
The letter contends that by ending Saturday delivery, the Postal Service is ignoring the intent of Congress, shrinking their business model and profit opportunities and complicating the House and Senate’s efforts to continue with comprehensive and bipartisan postal reform.
The text of the letter is below.
The Honorable Patrick R. Donahoe
Postmaster general
U.S. Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza Southwest
Washington, D.C. 20260
Dear Postmaster Donahoe,
As New Yorkers, we write to express our opposition to the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) plan to terminate six-day mail delivery. While we understand the financial difficulties facing the USPS, we expect you to adhere to the intent of Congress, avoid weakening the Postal Service’s business model, and allow Congress to work on comprehensive Postal reform. Your plan will have negative and far-reaching consequences for postal employees, companies and consumers who need to be able to rely on six-day delivery being there when it’s needed.
The USPS’ decision to implement five-day mail delivery service violates the clearly-stated intent of Congress for the last three decades to continue six-day delivery. Since 1983, Congress has expressly stated that the United States Postal Service should maintain six-day delivery. Your attempt to violate Congress’s intent for the last thirty years is an unwise decision. Instead of working with us on this issue, it appears you are attempting to ignore the democratic process.
Not only does your decision violate thirty years of precedent, but these changes will irreparably damage the trust Americans have placed in the Postal Service. By diminishing your standards, the USPS will be made vulnerable to competition and continue to contract its business model rather than expand it. At a time when the Postal Service should be looking to increase revenues and business opportunities, instead, the USPS is headed in the opposite direction and limiting potential business opportunities Companies that rely on six-day mail delivery may opt to explore private delivery services. This could very well mean significant mail volume decreases for USPS and further financial hardship. The Postal Service should look to expand rather than limit the scope of its business.
We are of the firm belief that comprehensive postal reform legislation can be achieved in the 113th Congress. The unilateral measure by the Postal Service serves only to complicate our bi-partisan and bi-cameral efforts. Your decision is an inadequate approach to the long-term financial challenges the USPS faces. In pursuing a piecemeal solution, the Postal Service is only making our task more difficult. As Congress works towards an appropriate legislative solution, we are committed to protecting the six-day mail service that New Yorkers and all Americans have come to expect.
We strongly urge you to uphold six-day mail delivery and allow Congress to do its job.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter. We look forward to a timely reply.
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