Casten Votes to Protect the United States Postal Service
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Sean Casten (IL-06) voted for the bipartisan ‘Delivering for America Act,' legislation that prohibits the Postal Service from implementing any changes to operations or level of service it had in place on January 1, 2020, and provides $25 billion in critical funding to support the Postal Service.
The vote comes at the same time as newly uncovered internal Postal Service documents warning Postmaster General DeJoy about steep declines and increasing delays nationwide over the last two months, delays that are far worse than originally believed.
Casten said, "The Postal Service is a lifeline to Illinoisans and Americans who depend on a reliable mail system to conduct business, get prescription medications, paychecks, critical supplies, and get counted in the 2020 Census. I have heard directly from constituents across the 6th district who have not received important mail due to Postmaster General DeJoy's sabotage. These delays have had devastating impacts. Enshrined in the Constitution is our duty to protect the Postal Service and push back at this Administration's attacks. I was proud to cosponsor and vote for the ‘Delivering for America Act,' vital legislation to help the Postal Service continue delivering for America. I will continue to press the Administration and Postmaster General DeJoy to reverse the damage they have already done."
The Delivering for America Act would 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; and
- Any change that would have the effect of delaying mail or increasing the volume of undelivered mail.
This legislation will also:
- Include $25 billion requested by the Postal Service and supported unanimously and on a bipartisan basis by the Trump-appointed Postal Board of Governors;
- Require the Postal Service to treat all official election mail as First-Class mail;
- Prohibit the removal, decommissioning or other stoppage of mail sorting machines, other than for routine maintenance;
- Prohibit the removal of mailboxes; and
- Explicitly reverse any changes already implemented to the operations or policies of the Postal Service that delay mail delivery.
Casten previously joined U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) in leading fourteen Democratic members of the Illinois Congressional delegation in urging Postmaster General DeJoy to take corrective action against the recent operational changes, including the elimination of overtime and a reduction in mail sorting and processing hours, which have led to significant delays in the delivery of letters and packages to Illinoisans.
This week, Casten, U.S. Representative Underwood (IL-14) and Bill Foster (IL-11) held a press conference at the Ken Christy Post Office In Aurora. In July, Casten held a USPS webinar where he was joined by experts from the National Postal Museum, the Institute for Policy Studies, and the National Association of Letter Carriers to understand the importance of the Postal Service.