[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 182 (Monday, December 9, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H6446-H6447]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  DESIGNATING SINGLE, UNIQUE ZIP CODES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of a bill 
that the House will be voting on this week, H.R. 8753, which directs 
the U.S. Postal Service to designate a single, unique ZIP Code for 
certain communities.
  H.R. 8753 will provide long overdue relief to 45 mostly small towns 
in 13 States from Connecticut to California by fixing a chaotic 
situation where the residents' ZIP Codes are hopelessly carved up in a 
hodgepodge that results in lost mail, delayed mail, and wrong 
deliveries.
  One of the towns included in H.R. 8753's list is the small town of 
Scotland, Connecticut, located in the heart of eastern Connecticut, 
which I have the great privilege to represent.

                              {time}  1215

  Scotland is the quintessential historic New England small town with a 
population of 1,576 people. It may be small, but its history is rich.
  One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Samuel 
Huntington, was born in his family's home located in Scotland, and 
today it is the significant part of the Rochambeau National History 
Trail which was the route that the American Continental Army under the 
leadership of George Washington and John Baptiste Rochambeau marched in 
1781 from Newport, Rhode Island, to Yorktown, Virginia, where the 
Battle of Yorktown took place and the small army of colonists defeated 
the greatest military power of the British Empire.
  Today, in 2024, it is a town that the U.S. Postal Service has 
assigned five, that is right, five ZIP Codes that caused endless 
aggravation and harm to the towns' residents. Delivery of Social 
Security notices, checks, Medicare information, prescription 
medication, notices from banks, employers, absentee ballots and 
absentee ballot applications are all disrupted day in and day out.
  Town leaders in my office have tried, along with Senator Chris 
Murphy, to get this ridiculous almost Monty Pythonesque absurdity 
resolved for many years with the Postal Service, to know avail.
  This week's action by the House will mandate that USPS address this 
problem once and for all by designating a single, unique ZIP Code for 
these 45 small towns.

[[Page H6447]]

  Mr. Speaker, this vote has been a long time in coming. I recognize 
the town's first selectman, Mr. Dana Barrow, and his predecessor, Mr. 
Gary Greenberg, who have diligently raised this issue, along with the 
town postmasters, with the Postal Service for many years laying out the 
real-life consequences of fragmenting this small community and 
essentially disconnecting it to the vital services that the residents 
require.
  This week the House can help Scotland, as well as 44 other similarly 
situated towns, by passing H.R. 8753. The bill was reported out of the 
House Oversight and Accountability Committee unanimously and has 
strong, bipartisan support.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleague to support this measure, send it to 
the Senate for swift passage and to the President's desk. The 
hardworking, taxpaying citizens of these towns deserve to get the same 
level of postal service as every other community.

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