A January 26, 2015 article posted on the KOAM TV 7 website, reported that, during a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee meeting Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) reinforced the importance of post offices to rural Missourians, as well as, the pressing need for USPS reforms. According to Senator McCaskill, it’s time to get the “really difficult questions hammered out on the Postal Service” before it is too late.
Along with 29 other Senators from both parties, Senator McCaskill wrote a letter, urging the Postal Service to postpone plans to consolidate 82 mail processing plants, which was to begin in January. The Senators referred to a USPS Inspector General report, which determined that the Postal Service had not “fulfilled its obligations to adequately study the impact of the consolidations, and to inform the public of those impacts.” The Senator also raised concerns about privatization of the Postal Service and the possibility that any such privatization would adversely impact service to rural communities.
During Senate discussions on postal reform legislation in 2014, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee approved Senator McCaskill’s proposal to heighten protection for rural post offices and postal delivery standards. Additionally, Senator McCaskill and Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) collaborated to try to prevent the closure of mail processing facilities and maintain six day mail delivery. Senator McCaskill has pledged to continue her efforts as Congress considers new postal reform legislation.