U.S. Postal Service
Floor Speech
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Mr. COONS. Madam President, it has long been said that ``neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays'' our U.S. postal ``couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.'' These words, in fact, are chiseled in granite above the entrance to the post office on 8th Avenue in New York City--one of the grandest post offices in our Nation. It is the adopted creed of the faithful and hard-working letter carriers and frontline workforce of our Postal Service.
As I have said before, I have no beef with the men and women of our Postal Service, but I have real and deep concerns about how the Postal Service is being run under the current Postmaster General.
President Biden doesn't get to choose a new Postmaster General just because he is the new President. In fact, the current officeholder, Louis DeJoy, was chosen by the Board under the previous administration.
Weeks ago, I joined with many colleagues and with Chairman Peters of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is responsible for the Postal Service, to send a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy to restore on-time delivery and stop the harmful systemwide changes that have caused unacceptable mail delays.
Sadly, that is not the first time I have had to reach out, with Senators in this body, to the Postmaster General. In fact, on five separate occasions, we have written the Postmaster General, between August and February, last year to this year. We have demanded transparency. We have insisted on the restoration of mail sorting machines. We have asked for assistance with vote-by-mail deliveries and wrote for just simple answers to pending constituent inquiries.
In my hometown of Wilmington, DE, last August, I joined our attorney general, Kathy Jennings, my senior Senator, Tom Carper, Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, and a series of union leaders for a day of action to save the Postal Service.
A few days later, I drove myself to our mail distribution center in New Castle after leadership of the Postal Service denied my request to visit. Thanks to having been alerted by some frontline employees, I drove around back and was able to see a dismantled massive piece of mail handling equipment left outside in the rain.
In January and February alone, my office received hundreds of messages from constituents complaining about mail issues. Since last April, I have heard from nearly 5,000 Delawareans--folks asking for robust funding for the Postal Service, wanting stronger vote-by-mail initiatives, and hundreds and hundreds of them reporting delays in the mail.
I want to take a few minutes, if I might, and just go through some of these concerns I have heard, which, I have also heard from colleagues, are being replicated across our Nation.
Gloria Lester, down in Lewes, in Sussex County, said that mail that previously took just 3 to 4 days is now taking her 4 to 6 weeks. Her bills are due before she even gets the statements. And her husband's VA medication took a month to arrive from the date they mailed it.
Jim Nichols of Milford wrote concerned about the delay in getting his newspapers, his magazines, and his other periodicals.
And Jim is not alone. I have heard from local and regional newspapers that rely on the Postal Service to deliver out-of-State and out-of-area subscribers.
We have a beach area with a lot of homeowners who live here in our Nation's Capital or elsewhere throughout the region. And Chris Raush, who is with the Cape Gazette, which gets mailed to folks all over our region, told me some of their out-of-State subscribers don't receive the paper for a month, and then, when they do, they get a big bundle of old papers. And now with papers not showing up weeks at a time, they have had to tell subscribers this is just out of their control and offer refunds.
Megan Stibbe, of the Delmarva Farmer, another local paper, said that she has ``been having a lot of trouble with Delaware deliveries. The postal system,'' as she said in writing to me, ``is very screwed up right now. Delmarva Farmers have not received their newspapers at all in January.''
I have received dozens and dozens more emails, texts, letters, and phone messages from frustrated constituents.
Dianne Boyle, of Magnolia, DE, felt so strongly about this ongoing debacle of delayed delivery in the Postal Service that she hand delivered her own letter of concern to my Dover office.
Richard Bilkski of Selbyville, a gentleman with real and significant heart issues that require him to be on medication, was down to his very last pill on January 25. After calling and calling and calling, it turned out that his medication had been sitting in the Wilmington post office for 3 weeks.
Toby Rubenstein, from Hockessin, wrote me and said:
I have paid my bills by check all my life. [And now] the Postal Service is so unreliable, that I now have monthly problems paying [my] bills on time. [And] I'm not alone in this.
Claudette Richardson of Newark, DE, wrote me a note saying that she had mailed her sister a Christmas card on December 14, and it arrived February 12.
Marcy Leib Rolmann wrote me and said: Our ``mail here in Sussex County as everywhere is horrible, despite our great letter carriers.''
Geiana Hollis of Wilmington wrote to me last month because of her passport sitting idle at a Philadelphia distribution center for 10 days. She was set to travel abroad and had to delay her trip.
Bill Powers, former county councilman I know well from New Castle County, a member of the Farm Bureau, is a longtime turkey grower who now provides fresh eggs for local farmers markets. Bill has experienced significant losses with turkey and chick deliveries and called my office with concerns.
And I want, before I close, to mention one last story, from Trebs Thompson, of Newark, an egg farmer with Whimsical Farms. Trebs wrote:
Largely our postal system has been a jewel. It handles a large volume of mail cheaply, with a high degree of speed and accuracy. Many of us depend on it for government paperwork, medications, orders, payments, and for farmers like me, seeds [and] day-old chicks.
The Post Office has been shipping day-old chicks to farms like mine for over 100 years. Today, all 20 baby hens arrived cold and lifeless. I cried [as I opened the box]. The [postal] supervisor cried. The gentleman who normally delivers my mail apologized profusely, but [it is] not his fault.
Whatever one feels about mail-in ballots or politics, I am asking you to put this aside and do what you can to restore the Postal Service.
Trebs Thompson is right. No farmer should ever have to open a box of dead chicks. No constituent should have to hand deliver a letter to their Senator. Our veterans shouldn't be going without lifesaving medication.
Postmaster DeJoy appeared before Members of the House last week and apologized for the slow mail delivery and said he has a forthcoming plan, which I am concerned includes further cuts to delivery service.
So let me summarize. My understanding is that DeJoy's plans for the future of the Postal Service include higher prices and slower delivery. Delawareans are tired, and our Postal Service workers are tired, too, of the constraints placed on them. How will we solve this problem? In my view, we need to confirm as quickly as possible President Biden's nominees to the Postal Board of Governors: Ron Stroman, Amber McReynolds, and Anton Hajjar--all folks who have deep experience in the postal system. They could get us back on track.
We also have to prioritize investments in the Postal Service. Congress secured $10 billion for the Postal Service in the unanimously passed CARES Act to provide the resources to maintain operation at a time when families are relying on mail service more than ever during this pandemic.
I will continue to support the Postal Service. I will continue to petition the Postmaster General, and I won't stop until there is a solution to this critical and pressing issue. Our letter carriers and our customers shouldn't suffer because of toxic leadership at the highest levels of our Postal Service.
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