[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8599 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8599
To direct the United States Postal Service to submit a report to
Congress on mail and package delivery service performance in the St.
Louis region, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 30, 2026
Mr. Bell (for himself, Mrs. Wagner, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Bost, and Ms.
Budzinski) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the United States Postal Service to submit a report to
Congress on mail and package delivery service performance in the St.
Louis region, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``St. Louis Postal Accountability and
Reform Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The United States Postal Service serves as a critical
piece of social and economic infrastructure for millions of
residents and businesses in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
(2) In August and September of 2025, the United States
Postal Service Office of Inspector General published two audit
reports in response to congressional inquiries from Senators
and Representatives from Missouri and Illinois: the Office of
Inspector General Audit Report 25-097-R25, ``Efficiency of
Operations at the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center,
St. Louis, MO'' and the Office of Inspector General Audit
Report 25-100-R25, ``Kansas-Missouri District: Delivery
Operations--St. Louis, MO''.
(3) The Office of Inspector General found that the Kansas-
Missouri District ranked among the lowest-performing postal
districts in the country for mail delivery from May through
July 2025, averaging 4th out of 50 districts nationwide, and
below average for package delivery during the same period.
(4) The Office of Inspector General identified over 89,000
pieces of delayed mail across seven audited delivery units on a
single morning in June 2025, the majority of which went
unreported in the United States Postal Service's internal
tracking system, limiting management's ability to identify and
address service failures.
(5) The Office of Inspector General found that the St.
Louis Processing and Distribution Center missed its letter
processing clearance time target more than half of the days
reviewed between February and April 2025, and identified
millions of delayed mailpieces during a site visit in June
2025.
(6) The Office of Inspector General found that staffing
shortfalls, including high turnover, elevated vacancy rates,
and workforce availability below the United States Postal
Service's own goals, contributed to operational challenges at
both the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center and
Kansas-Missouri District delivery units.
(7) The operational challenges identified in the 2025
audits are consistent with deficiencies documented in a prior
Office of Inspector General audit of the St. Louis Processing
and Distribution Center in July 2022, and Congress has an
obligation to ensure that corrective actions are implemented
and that St. Louis-area residents and businesses receive the
reliable postal service they are entitled to.
SEC. 3. REPORT ON MAIL AND PACKAGE DELIVERY SERVICE PERFORMANCE IN THE
ST. LOUIS REGION.
Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the Postmaster General shall submit, to the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, a report
evaluating First-Class Mail service performance in the St. Louis region
for fiscal years 2023, 2024, and 2025. Such report shall include--
(1) a comparison of on-time delivery performance for First-
Class Mail, Marketing Mail, Priority Mail, and Ground Advantage
products in the St. Louis region against--
(A) the national average;
(B) similarly sized postal processing districts;
and
(C) the Kansas-Missouri District's own performance
in prior years;
(2) an explanation of the causes of any service performance
in the District that lags behind national averages;
(3) an analysis of workforce conditions across the St.
Louis Processing and Distribution Center and Kansas-Missouri
District delivery units, including--
(A) vacancy rates by position type, including
clerks, mail handlers, carriers, maintenance personnel,
and supervisors;
(B) turnover rates for carriers and clerks;
(C) absenteeism and unscheduled leave rates; and
(D) the operational impact of workforce shortages
on mail processing, transportation, and delivery;
(4) an assessment of the accuracy of delayed mail reporting
in the Delivery Condition Visualization system and the Mail
Condition Visualization system across the Kansas-Missouri
District, including a description of any systemic
underreporting and the steps taken to correct it; and
(5) the status of corrective actions taken in response to
deficiencies identified in the Office of Inspector General
Audit Reports 25-097-R25 and 25-100-R25, including--
(A) progress toward filling vacancies at the St.
Louis Processing and Distribution Center and Kansas-
Missouri District delivery units;
(B) improvements to preventative maintenance
completion rates on automated equipment;
(C) load and unload scan compliance trends;
(D) outbound trip on-time, cancellation, and extra-
trip rates;
(E) package scanning accuracy across Kansas-
Missouri District delivery units; and
(F) implementation of the 12 recommendations issued
in the Office of Inspector General Audit Report 25-097-
R25 and the 2 recommendations issued in the Office of
Inspector General Audit Report 25-100-R25.
SEC. 4. ACCOUNTABILITY.
The Postmaster General shall include in the report required under
section 3 a description of the management accountability systems in
place at the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center and Kansas-
Missouri District delivery units to prevent recurrence of the
operational deficiencies identified in the Office of Inspector General
Audit Reports 25-097-R25 and 25-100-R25, including--
(1) the performance metrics and oversight structures used
to monitor mail processing, transportation, and delivery
operations on an ongoing basis at the St. Louis Processing and
Distribution Center and Kansas-Missouri District delivery
units;
(2) the steps taken to ensure that delayed mail is
accurately reported in the Delivery Condition Visualization and
Mail Condition Visualization systems across all Kansas-Missouri
District delivery units, and the mechanisms in place to verify
reporting accuracy at the district, area, and headquarters
levels; and
(3) the processes in place to ensure that staffing
shortfalls are identified and addressed in a timely manner,
including recruitment, retention, and workforce planning
strategies specific to the St. Louis region.
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