[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 93 (Tuesday, July 14, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1294]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PERSONAL EXPLANATION

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                         HON. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 14, 1998

  Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, on June 22, 1998, I mistakenly cast a ``yea'' 
vote on rollcall vote 256 on H. Con. Res. 452, expressing the sense of 
the House that the Board of Governors of the United States Postal 
Service (USPS) should reject the recommended postage rate increase. 
Please let it reflect in the record that I intended a ``nay'' vote.
  The USPS faces enormous challenges, primarily maintaining universal 
mail service at an affordable price across our entire nation. The USPS 
needs to be more efficient and to improve local service in some areas, 
including parts of Connecticut's Fourth Congressional District. But I 
do not believe the increase is unreasonable.
  Congress pushed for the Postal Service to be run like a private 
business and, therefore, should not interfere now in the decisions its 
board makes. The increase in the price of a first-class stamp, to 33 
cents, is less than one-third the rate of inflation over the more than 
three years the 32-cent rate has been in effect.

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