Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt Line Up Against Post Office Closures
Congressional lawmakers hope to put up legislative barriers to postal closings while the agency seeks ways to compete in the digital age.
Missouri's U.S. Senators are among those supporting various pieces of legislation to prevent post office closures.
US Postal Service
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This week, lawmakers from across the country have introduced measures to prevent the shuttering of various United States Postal Service offices. Last summer, the agency announced it would evaluate the operations at more than 3,000 offices nationwide, including a handful in St. Louis County and the city of St. Louis.
Click here for a list of all Missouri branches of the U.S. Postal Service under evaluation.
Maplewood-Brentwood Patch recently reported that any decision on closures under the current round of "rightsizing" would not come until next month at the earliest.
But both of Missouri's U.S. senators have introduced measures to prevent post office closings. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced a plan that would place a moratorium on closing rural post offices for two years. After that, the Postal Service would have to follow a strict criterion when considering whether to close a facility.
“Targeting rural post offices for closure is callous, unnecessary, and irresponsible and doesn't solve the fiscal problems facing the Postal Service,” McCaskill said in a statement. “Our post offices are more than just brick and mortar—they’re the lifeblood for towns across our state and a source of good jobs in areas hard-hit by the economic downturn. And I’m proud to lead this fight on behalf of Missouri’s families and businesses.”
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) co-sponsored an amendment with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) that would “allow for the appointment of a non-paid advocate to represent rural communities facing a post office or postal processing facility closure or consolidation."
“As the U.S. Postal Service continues to face serious fiscal problems, we need to consider all possible options before closing post offices and processing centers. And rural communities and small towns in Missouri and across the country that rely on the Postal Service every day deserve to have their voices heard throughout the process,” Blunt said in a statement. “I’m proud to work with Senator Bennet on a bipartisan amendment to the postal reform bill that will provide communities facing postal closures with a citizens’ advocate to represent their interests.”
Roll Call noted that a number of lawmakers are making moves to protect particular post offices from being shut down.
jeffery leathers
11:41 am on Saturday, April 21, 2012
I think it's great, the passion our lawmakers show when it comes to things that seem traditional. However, letting our love for the rural route may not be in the best interest economically for the US Postal Service. One has to remember that the US Post Office has had its way with price gouging prior to entities such as,UPS, Fed X, and others.
Competition has a way of trimming the fat and weeding out the weak.
Unfortunately, the bottom line is often the "loudest voice" that gets heard with all that is left are fond memories.
Good luck to the rural route, lawmakers that like to be heard, and to all those that feel that they need to be heard.
I too love the soul of Americana.
Fatherboop
12:33 pm on Saturday, April 21, 2012
Time to show strength not continue spending for political posturing. we cannot afford full postal service any longer. Cuts hours, salaries or pensions, but cut someting. Quit spending
Mya Opinion
6:15 pm on Saturday, April 21, 2012
Why not begin saving some money by not delivering mail on Saturdays? See what that might save, then move to the next savings. Cut the fat.
Car Code
8:52 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
Regulate, increase price, or outlaw junk mail.
Joe Merriman
8:59 am on Friday, May 4, 2012
Where was McCaskill when they closed and sold for scrap the 2 Chrysler plants in Fenton? The biggest crime of the century was the tearing down and selling for scrap the Chrysler plants in Fenton that impacted 43,000 St. Louis tax paying jobs. The Chrysler plants only employed 6,200 but it took 43,000 support jobs to feed the state of the art plants for their short 50 year history in the auto industry. The closing of the plants was a sign of the time with a 40% reduction in auto sales but the tearing down and sell for scrap was the crime of the century considering the 43,000 tax paying jobs it affected. Those jobs could have been back to work by now that Chrysler is on its rebound again. Now that’s the crime of the century. Who went to jail for this crime?
Ken Wash
7:26 am on Monday, February 4, 2013
Here is an excerpt from an interesting article I ran across that has some revelency. Not sure when the article was written but it was titled, The Western Union Sends its Last Telegram, and was written by Robert Segal of NPR.
"The era of the telegram, an icon of communication dating back 150 years, came to a quiet end last week. Western Union says it delivered its final telegram on Friday.
In truth, the telegram long ago succumbed to long distance telephones, faxes, e-mail and instant messaging. Even deliverers who sang them couldn't save telegrams from the dustbin of history. The fact that one final telegram was sent last Friday is a tribute not to the telegram's endurance, but to the glacial tediousness of extinction itself.
What will we remember of the telegram? Probably the prose style the economic of telegraphy engendered. Punctuation cost extra, so the word STOP substituted for a period. Otherwise, it was brevity in the extreme — pronouns, verbs omitted.
The telegram made tabloid headline writers out of ordinary folks sending urgent messages. Sometimes those urgent messages contained the worst news, sometimes the best...."
Anyway, sound familiar?
Mike K
1:40 pm on Monday, February 4, 2013
Feb 2 2006 is date ur looking for. :-)