Press Releases

In our remote area, the USPS plays an invaluable role delivering everything from medication and benefits to birthday cards and absentee ballots. We rely on the USPS daily, especially during the COVID19 pandemic, and we should make sure it’s able to provide these services for years to come.

There has been a lot of misinformation and half-truths being shared about our USPS, and I’d like to take this opportunity to clear things up. Here are the facts:

-The Postal Service is in no immediate financial danger. The USPS has roughly $14 billion cash on hand and access to another $10 billion in credit from the Treasury Department. Additionally, package delivery – the most profitable service for the USPS – is near all-time high levels. In fact, revenues are more than $1 billion higher now than the same period last year. By its own analysis, the Postal Service has adequate funding through at least late 2021 – far more than enough to handle any increase in mail volume due to the election.

- The USPS is fully prepared to handle the 2020 election, and absentee ballots represent a tiny percentage of their total mail volume. In 2019, the Postal Service delivered approximately 4.5 billion pieces of first-class mail per month. Even if 100% of the roughly 160 million Americans registered to vote today did so by mail, total mail volume for that month would increase by less than 4%.

- Equipment consolidation, like removing unnecessary mail sorting machines, has been happening for years and does not threaten the operations of the USPS. Mail delivery volume has been declining for decades, while shipment of packages continues to be on the rise. Removing and consolidating mail sorting machines allows the USPS to more efficiently allocate equipment, personnel, and physical space for processing packages.

- The USPS needs structural reform to ensure its long-term financial health and maintain its important operations nationwide. That’s why I supported the USPS Fairness Act, to give the Postal Service much needed flexibility to modernize and become more efficient, which will ultimately allow the USPS to address its financial problems.

Instead of implementing meaningful change, H.R. 8015 would throw $25 billion in taxpayer money at the Postal Service while actively preventing them from taking any actions to improve their long-term financial health. Postmaster General DeJoy and the Trump Administration have already agreed to postpone any changes to USPS policy until after the 2020 election. In fact, DeJoy testified in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee yesterday reaffirming this postponement and his overall commitment to ensure the American people have full confidence in the Postal Service and in our electoral process.

These are the facts, and why I ultimately could not vote for of H.R. 8015, the Delivering For America Act. This legislation, introduced on August 11, 2020, was rushed to the floor without a single hearing and without any bipartisan input. The bill would tie the hands of the Postal Service, preventing it from making any changes to better its operations, and the bill would also allow people to bring civil action suits against the USPS. This does not help the USPS become more efficient and it does not help the USPS run smoothly at such an important time.

If you would like to know more about H.R. 8015, please don’t hesitate to contact my office.