September 17, 2014
By Stephanie West
Washington, DC – One hundred sixty members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee on Sept. 11 urging them to stop devastating cuts to the Postal Service.
The group appealed to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY), Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY) and others to include a one-year moratorium on the closure and consolidation of mail processing plants in must-pass legislation to keep the government running in the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
The letter was written by Rep. Ed Joyce (R-OH) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) and was modeled on an Aug. 14 letter to leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“As the postal network has been weakened, service has suffered,” the letter said. “Slowing down mail delivery even further will especially hurt senior citizens on fixed incomes, small businesses, rural areas, and the economy.”
Over the past several weeks, American Postal Workers Union members and allies sent thousands of messages and made phone calls to members of Congress asking them to oppose Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe’s proposal to close as many as 82 mail processing plants; slow mail service, and eliminate thousands of jobs.
