Pappas Votes To Protect and Strengthen U.S. Postal Service

Today, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) co-sponsored and voted to pass the bipartisan Delivering for America Act, which will strengthen the U.S. Postal Service and protect it from ongoing political attacks. Pappas returned to Washington Saturday to cast his vote.

H.R. 8015, the Delivering for America Act, would prohibit the Postal Service from implementing or approving any changes to the operations or service levels in effect on January 1, 2020, that would impede prompt, reliable, and efficient service.

The Legislation passed today would also prohibit:

• Any change that would generally affect service on a nationwide or substantially nationwide basis.
• Any revision of existing service standards.
• Closing, consolidating, or reducing the hours of any post office or postal facility.
• Any prohibition on paying overtime to Postal Service officers or employees.
• Any change that would prevent the Postal Service from meeting its service standards or cause a decline in measurements of performance relative to those standards.
• Any change that would have the effect of delaying mail or increasing the volume of undelivered mail.

The legislation also includes $25 billion requested by the Postal Service and supported unanimously and on a bipartisan basis by the Postal Board of Governors—all of whom were appointed by President Trump.

"Today Congress took important steps to strengthen the Postal Service, address disruptions in service, and confront the political attacks coming from the Trump Administration," said Congressman Chris Pappas. "This legislation will help reverse the slow-down of mail processing and delivery while providing the emergency funding requested by the bipartisan Board of Governors."

"I have great confidence in the men and women of the Postal Service here in New Hampshire and across the country. They do their job and they do it well. But we have to give them the support they need and make sure that there are absolutely no politically-motivated attempts to slow down the mail or undermine the service our families, veterans, small businesses, and voters rely on every day. I urge the Senate to take up and pass this bill and send it to the President for his signature."

Background:

Pappas voted in favor of the Heroes Act on May 15th, which would provide an emergency $25 billion appropriation for lost revenue due to COVID-19, ensure that USPS has access to the $10 billion line of credit, give postal and other essential frontline workers the hazard pay they deserve, and make sure that every voter can access no­-excuse absentee vote­-by­-mail in the upcoming election.

This morning, citing the detrimental consequences of any reduction in mail service to the U.S. health care system, Congressman Pappas led 31 Members of Congress in calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Azar to publicly defend USPS, urging him to "convey to the President and the public the significant negative impact that a reduction in USPS service would have on our health care system."

Yesterday, Congressman Pappas called on the United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General to investigate a media report that the USPS sold a mail sorting machine at the facility on Goffs Falls Road in Manchester for scrap parts to a man from Pennsylvania. The report came as the Postmaster General has spent months systematically attacking the Postal Service and undermining services that veterans, seniors, and voters rely on every day.

Earlier this month, Congressman Pappas sent a letter to the USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue and Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Bette Brand expressing his grave concerns about the impact of the U.S. Postal Service's dire financial condition and potential reductions in service on rural communities across the country.

In August, Congressman Pappas joined the New Hampshire delegation to demand answers from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy about changes made to the Postal Service.

In June, Congressman Pappas, Annie Kuster (NH-02), Kendra Horn (OK-05), and Gil Cisneros (CA-39) sent a letter to the Small Business Administrator, Jovita Carranza, to express their concern about the impact that the U.S. Postal Service's grave financial state may have affected small businesses across America.

Also in June, Rep. Pappas led a letter to VA Secretary Wilkie to share his concern that any reduction in services or move to privatize the Postal Service will negatively impact both the VA and the millions of veterans.

In April, Pappas joined the NH Congressional delegation to call on House and Senate leadership to include relief for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in future COVID-19 relief legislation. The effort came as the USPS faces mounting debts that have been compounded by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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