[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12734]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



    POSTAL BOARD OF GOVERNORS DECISION REGARDING 6-DAY MAIL DELIVERY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, earlier today Mr. Robert Rider, 
chairman of the Postal Board of Governors, released a statement 
indicating that 6-day mail delivery would continue without any further 
study. The Postal Board of Governors had commissioned a study on April 
3 to study cost savings associated with reducing delivery service to 5 
days.
  In response to the idea of cutting mail delivery to 5 days, I, along 
with the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh), the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Waxman), and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton), 
introduced H. Res. 154, a bill to preserve 6-day mail delivery.

                              {time}  1900

  The bill we introduced enjoys wide bipartisan support and has more 
than 55 cosponsors. This bill is the companion to Senate Resolution 71 
introduced by Senator Harkin. I applaud the Postal Board of Governors' 
decision today to continue 6-day mail delivery. This decision means 
that businesses, advertisers, and others who want to reach citizens on 
Saturday will be able to do so.
  In addition, citizens who receive paychecks, Social Security, food 
coupons, and other important mail will not see an interruption in their 
basic service. Also, it means that postal workers and letter carriers 
will win because cutting mail delivery to 5 days could have led to mail 
piling up, delivery delays, and other problems.
  I commend the leadership and efforts of Moe Biller, and the American 
Postal Workers Union; Vincent Sombrotto; George Gould and the Letter 
Carriers; Kevin Richardson and the Printers; Jerry Cerasale and the 
Direct Marketing Association; and all of those who worked to preserve 
6-day mail delivery.
  Truly, Mr. Speaker, the Postal Service is an important entity in all 
of our communities. As chair of the Postal Caucus, I look forward to 
the continued focus on the U.S. Postal Service and assuring its 
viability not only today but into the future.
  Mr. Speaker, knowing that the agriculture appropriations bill is 
going to be on the floor tomorrow, let me just take a moment and remind 
us that the sugar subsidy program is keeping prices extraordinarily 
high and is driving candy makers and food processors out of my 
community and out of many other communities throughout the country 
because they end up paying an enormously high price for sugar, which is 
the main ingredient used in their product. As a matter of fact, Brach's 
Candy Company, located in the heart of the community where I live, just 
announced that they are going to move their plant to Argentina. Fifteen 
hundred jobs, 1,500 people, will be out of work. So as we look at 
agriculture appropriations and rewrite our agricultural policy, let us 
be reminded that the sugar subsidies are bad for my community, bad for 
the City of Chicago, bad for the food processors and candy makers and 
bad for America.

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