U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) today pressed Louis DeJoy, United States Postal Service (USPS) CEO and Postmaster General, on his agency’s Regional Transportation Optimization plan—a new delivery strategy that would disproportionately affect rural post offices, including 754 of Missouri’s 926 post offices.
“I’m going to work with everybody I can across this dais to protect delivery to rural America, and if I have to go down with the ship, I’ll go down with the ship,” Senator Hawley stated. “But, I’m going to do everything I can to kill [the Regional Transportation Optimization plan].
Senator Hawley went on to cite the Missouri Farm Bureau and rural electric cooperatives’ opposition to the new USPS plan.
Senator Hawley also pointed to postal delays across Kansas City and the USPS’ failure to reopen the Baring, Mo., post office, telling DeJoy that his patience—and that of all Missourians’—has been exhausted.
“If I’m successful, rural America will get its mail delivered on time, which it’s currently not,” Senator Hawley explained.
“We’ve got the Baring, Mo., post office, which has been completely decimated for two solid years, that has now been rebuilt by a private party that your agency still has not cleared and opened,” he continued.
Senator Hawley has introduced the Rural Post Office Reconstruction Act to establish a clear timeframe for reopening rural post offices that experience closure due to natural disaster damage or other unforeseen circumstances.
His introduction of the legislation came after an EF-2 tornado destroyed the Baring, Mo., post office, in addition to damaging nearby homes and businesses.
Watched the full exchange here, or click on the image above.