WASHINGTON – At a confirmation hearing today for President Trump’s nominees to serve on the United States Postal Service (USPS) board of governors, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill continued her years-long efforts to get answers on USPS’ contracts with its competitors for critical ‘last mile’ delivery.
“To me this seems like a simple oversight request…I’m very concerned that we have enabled our competition to be more successful while we’ve hamstrung the Postal Service,” McCaskill said. “[Postal Service competitors] should be paying a premium, not getting a discount.”
Click HERE to watch McCaskill’s questioning at today’s hearing.
McCaskill has been working since 2013 to ensure that given the Postal Service’s unique rural capabilities and services, it is making good business decisions for providing ‘last mile’ delivery, which refers to the final route that packages take to get to their destinations. “Without the Postal Service, FedEx and UPS would be forced to find more expensive alternatives to deliver packages to the last mile,” McCaskill said.
McCaskill discussed her difficulties receiving documents from the Postal Service on this issue, stating, “It is ridiculous that we have reached such a roadblock in getting this incredibly important information as we try to put the Postal Service on a more sound fiscal footing.” McCaskill asked each of the USPS Board of Governors nominees to commit to working with McCaskill in her efforts to get answers on this issue, which they all agreed to.
McCaskill is a leader of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee—which has jurisdiction over USPS—and has long worked to improve rural postal service and hold USPS accountable. McCaskill is fighting to fix a bizarre quirk in which some Missouri residents have Iowa mailing addresses, causing unnecessary problems for the affected Missourians. McCaskill called for postal reforms after a USPS Inspector General report found that mismanagement led to up to two billion pieces of delayed mail. She has also called for answers from the Postmaster General following reports from Missouri USPS managers that their staffing needs have been disregarded. McCaskill is widely credited with having waged a successful campaign over several years to save rural post offices in Missouri and maintain delivery standards.
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