Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Post office politics: say no to a bad bill, and yes to 6-day delivery

I recently blogged about the current woes of the U.S. Postal Service in my post, Is the postal service really in trouble?.

While I normally keep politics off of this blog (though on a personal level, I'm a pretty political kinda gal), this is a very important political issue for supporters of the U.S. Postal Service, postal workers, and 6-day delivery, so I'm going to stand on my soapbox for a minute.

I just read this excellent and informative post from the Letter Writers Alliance about a nasty new bill that's reared its ugly head in the senate called the Issa-Ross bill. The LWA quoted one of their members, post worker Carol C., who said it so well that I'm going to quote her again right here:

"I need to put out an all points bulletin! Perhaps you are already aware of a very mean-spirited bit of legislation which is aimed to dismantle the USPS. It passed in the House and John McCain introduced it into the Senate this past Friday. It is called the Issa-Ross bill which will eliminate Saturday delivery, cut jobs, services, close more offices than previously anticipated and ruin the unions. And it is completely unnecessary. They are using a scare tactic by saying the USPS will need a taxpayers bailout- this is completely false...However, it is gathering them support. The fact is there are sufficient funds in other postal accounts to cover the under funded one. Congress needs to authorize the transfer of money. HR1351 would do just that and keep our Saturday deliveries. But common sense is overshadowed. Time is of the essence- please spread the word to have everyone contact their Senators ASAP and vote NO to the Issa-Ross bill. Ask that they preserve Saturday delivery and support HR1351 instead! Sorry, to be so political, but it is crucial. They are trying to push this through before Friday. Yikes!!!

Thank you! Visit writealetter.org for more info."


The links above should point you in the right direction to take some action and contact your legislators. I like this one, too: Ask your representative to co-sponsor HR1351. It's pretty egregious that they're trying to push this through on such last-minute notice, but I admit that I don't entirely understand how these political games work.

I DO vote, though, and I voice my opinions to the lawmakers: I urge you to do the same! Stand up for our mail!