[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 41 (Thursday, March 7, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2266-S2267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          U.S. Postal Service

  Mr. President, I am here to talk about the post office and the 
frustration we are having in Vermont with the management of the post 
office, starting with Mr. DeJoy, our Postmaster General, and his total 
disregard for what is happening to our postal service in Vermont.
  Let me start by saying what the specific incident is that is just 
baffling to Senator Sanders, to Congressman Balint, to Governor Scott, 
and to me. We had a flood in July. The postal building in Montpelier 
was flooded and damaged, and it is not going to be opened for years. We 
have to get another location for our post office. That was July. It is 
March now. We have no new postal service, no new postal building.
  The workers, whom we are absolutely indebted to, the postal workers--
they

[[Page S2267]]

are fantastic throughout the State of Vermont. They work under very 
difficult circumstances. They are understaffed, overworked, and they do 
everything they can to get the mail delivered.
  So they are doing what they can, but they don't have a place for 
postal boxes. They don't have a place where they can sort the mail. 
They don't have a place--actually, Montpelier residences and businesses 
don't have a Postal Service they can come to, to pick up their mail. 
And it is going on and on and on. And despite the efforts of Governor 
Scott, who has made suggestions on where we could put a replacement 
location, despite the entreaties of Senator Sanders and Congresswoman 
Balint and me, we get literally no response, and that is the part that 
is so astonishing to me.
  We try to get a meeting with Postmaster General DeJoy. We send 
letters, we make phone calls, and there is no response.
  Montpelier, right now, has the distinction of being the only capital 
city in the country that doesn't have a post office. We don't have a 
McDonald's either. We are OK with that. But we are not OK with not 
having a post office where people can pick up their medications, their 
Social Security checks, where businesses can drop off their mail going 
out to customers.
  And what is so aggravating to all of us is there is no response from 
the management. That is their job. They just blow us off.
  And can you imagine what it is like if you are a citizen and you are 
trying to get some response on the basic right that you have to get 
your mail on time, the basic right and the confidence you should have 
that you will get your prescription medication on time, when, not only 
do they get ignored when they are making a reasonable request--hey, 
where is our post office?--the Members of Congress don't even get a 
response.
  And, you know, for a while I thought: Maybe DeJoy doesn't like me. He 
doesn't like Sanders. He doesn't like Balint. Maybe he doesn't like our 
government.
  But do you know what? That isn't what it is about. I wish it was 
personal. But what I am finding out from talking to my colleagues is 
that this problem of postal mismanagement and disregard--and 
disregard--for the legitimate concerns of our citizens is widespread.
  So, for instance, in Tennessee, my colleague--my former colleague in 
the House, Tim Burchett, is trying to figure out how to get stuff 
delivered. His folks need medications. They need the checks--the Social 
Security checks. He tried to get the Postal Service to respond. I am 
talking, again, about the management, because Tim, like me, is really 
admiring of the work of the postal workers. They were concerned that he 
couldn't get a meeting.
  Finally, the Postal Service sent some people a couple hundred miles 
to his district. They sat there for 15 minutes and made no response 
whatsoever to the entreaties of the people who had asked for that 
meeting. And then they vanished--no response, no action.
  My colleague Senator Smith is in Minnesota. There is a rural post 
office there where people have been told to prioritize the delivery of 
Amazon packages--that is a private company having the Postal Service 
doing the last bit of work to get that package to the home--but to 
prioritize that for Amazon over the delivery of everyday mail for 
people who are citizens of that small town.
  And then, in Colorado, small ski towns in Colorado are waiting weeks 
or months at a time to get their mail. The Wall Street Journal did a 
story about this, and I want to quote it.
  A citizen there said: ``Christmas cards began arriving in February. 
But what's not funny at all''--he was kind of philosophical about it--
``is [that] driver's licenses, disability payments, election ballots, 
[and] prescriptions'' were not arriving for months as well.
  I mean, this is the United States of America. The Postal Service is 
older than the Constitution itself. The original infrastructure that we 
began building were roads to connect one postal service to another. 
That is what it was about, and it is getting wrecked.
  And the wreckage by Postmaster General DeJoy is reflected in his 
unresponsive attitude toward everyday Americans in every district of 
this country, and it has got to end.
  There is independence with the Postal Service. That is to avoid 
Congressional meddling. But do you know what? Is it Congressional 
meddling when we are sticking up for the businesses in our communities, 
for the senior citizens in our communities, for the kids who, in fact, 
do like getting cards from their grandfather and their grandmother? No. 
I don't think that is meddling. That is demanding service.
  What is unacceptable is a postal management service that won't even 
pick up the phone and meet with Members of Congress on behalf of their 
citizens or, more importantly, get the job done on behalf of all of the 
people we represent.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.