[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 183 (Thursday, December 1, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H8057]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1810
                       POSTAL REFORM LEGISLATION

  (Mr. CRAWFORD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CRAWFORD. Mr. Speaker, in fiscal year 2011, the United States 
Postal Service brought in $65.7 billion in revenue but spent $70.6 
billion. When counting a $5.5 billion mandatory payment to fund retiree 
health benefits, which they would have defaulted on already were it not 
for the extensions on the payment, the postal service ran a deficit of 
$10.6 billion.
  In an attempt to cut costs, the postal service has announced that 
it's considering closing over 3,600 post offices, the large majority of 
which are rural. By the postal service's own numbers, they would only 
save $200 million annually if they were to close each of these post 
offices.
  This is kind of like asking a family of four that makes $65,700 a 
year and adds $10,600 in credit card, and then only cuts $200 from 
their annual budget to get their finances under control.
  Last month I visited the Grubbs and Sedgwick post offices, two of the 
100 post offices that are being considered for closure in my rural 
district. Residents in both towns told me about the important role that 
their post office plays in their communities.
  In order to prevent the post office from unfairly targeting rural 
communities, I recently introduced H.R. 3370, the Protecting our Rural 
Post Offices Act of 2011. The legislation would prevent the postal 
service from closing any post office that does not have an alternate 
post office within 8 miles driving.

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